Flesh To Aura Version 2
by Tactition101
Summary: RWBY SI. So, let's review here: A B.R.O.B. thought it would be funny to chuck me onto the murder planet of Remnant and I can now turn into an actual honest to Primus Autobot, more specifically MY Autobot, Tac. Is it wrong that I want to cackle like an idiot right now? (Read Flesh to Metal Version 1 in order to not be lost please)
1. Chapter 1

Flesh To Aura Version 2

Summary: RWBY SI. So, let's review here: A B.R.O.B. thought it would be funny to chuck me onto the murder planet of Remnant and I can now turn into an actual honest to Primus Autobot, more specifically MY Autobot, Tac. Is it wrong that I want to cackle like an idiot right now? (Read Flesh to Metal Version 1 in order to not be lost please)

1\. Preparing For Entrance Exams

Story Start: Our Universe, My Bedroom

It was instinct rather than hearing or sight that made me look up from my computer screen as I worked on one of my stories, that unquantifiable but no less important sense that had me glancing to the left as I just suddenly _knew_ that someone was now in my bedroom with me. The sight of the cloaked figure leaning against my dresser had me give a startled jerk of my body but thankfully I didn't fall out of my seat. Unfortunately, my mouth wasn't as restrained as the rest of my body, a fact proven by my first words to the figure.

"Who the _fuck_ are you?!"

The cloaked figure chuckled and said "Language Matthew."

I snorted and said "Sir, you are in my room uninvited, that's a bit more rude than me cussing at you."

I somehow knew the hooded figure was smirking at me as he said "And there's that wit that makes you one of my favorite humans to go to for entertainment, regardless of which version you are."

Version? My eyes narrowed as I said "I assume by version you are implying you are capable of traversing the multi-verse."

Now I could tell that the figure was grinning at me as he said "The Multi-Verse Theory is always one of your favorite non-provable things to believe in, it's what makes chucking you into new worlds so less irritable than if I did it to some close-minded fool."

My eyes stayed narrowed as I said "You've translocated 'me' before? That implies…" My eyes widened as the penny finally dropped for me and I said "Taifun."

"_Good_." The now identified R.O.B. said, though given his words, maybe B.R.O.B. fit him after all. Hearing that thought, he chuckled and said "Oh come now Matthew, you and I both know that I am not like that Bastard that chucked Cross into a One Piece world and then gave him a biscuit right off the bat just to see that gastrointestinal disaster. _I_ at least give you tools to properly survive in your new world. After all, humans are rather squishy in the Transformers Prime section of the multiverse, aren't they?"

I _should_ have been surprised at his words, really, I should have, but the fact that three other versions of me became badass autonomous robotic lifeforms in another universe after a highway crash because of a Randomly Omnipotent Being made _far_ more sense than such a thing happening naturally. Actually, it looked like I had discovered who the 'drunk god' that dropped another version of me into Awakening was as well. Giving a sigh, I said "Alright Taifun, where are you sending _me_ then?" It wasn't like I could actually _stop_ the guy from doing this after all.

Taifun chuckled and said "I was thinking the world of Remnant would be a nice change of pace for you."

I frowned and cocked my head as I said "I don't know much about the source material I'm afraid."

Taifun's hood shifted juuuust enough that I could see the wicked grin he was sporting as he said "I know, you've only seen up to the team designation part of the show, but you and I both know you've read quite a few RWBY stories, including the LOOPS version, which gives you a bit of a head's up."

"Well there is that." I admitted, finally turning my chair towards him and leaning back in it as I said "So what's the trade off this time?" Putting me on Remnant as I was was even more of a death sentence then putting me in a TFP verse as a human after all. At least there the common human didn't have Grimm to deal with.

Taifun held up two fingers and said "You have two choices. I'm going to convert you to an age that would be appropriate for a Beacon student, though of course you don't have to go there if you really don't want to. In return, all of the converted body mass will go into expanding your Aura pool so that way you don't run out of it within the first minute. This Aura Pool will power one of two Semblances. You can either become your version of a War Mage OR, you can switch between your human body and Tac, though you will only be able to maintain your thirty foot tall form for five minutes before running out of Aura and turning back into a human. Though you _could_ find a big enough water supply to convert to Aura and extend that time."

"I suppose the smaller version is a lot less Aura intensive?" I asked and Taifun nodded. It did make sense. After all, the material making said thirty foot tall murder bot had to come from _somewhere_ so it would then follow that my Aura reserves would be making up the slack. I gave a sigh and slouched a little in my chair as I considered my options.

Option 1: War Mage

Four spell sigils, one on each palm of my hands and sole of my feet. EXTREMELY versatile since they had ten spell classes, Wind, Water, Fire, Lightning, Earth, Light, Dark, Gravity, Space, and Staff, with 'levels' from E to S and three spells per level, giving me a hundred and eighty spells total. However, with my Aura powering this version I couldn't know how often or long I could use the higher levels of spells before I ran out. There was no point in using an S Level Light Tsunami spell to wipe out hordes of Grim in one shot or an S Level Regenerate to give someone back an arm if it meant I lost all of my aura immediately after and was then just as helpless as any other shmuck on that planet until my Aura recovered.

Option 2: Tac

The ability to turn into a mechanized soldier with Vibrational Swords, two Energon Pistols, a Sonic Resonator Blaster, three missiles, and a mini forge. I of course had to assume said weapons would run off of my Aura. There was also the ability to transform into a jet making travel times much smaller along with enabling air combat. And couldn't forget the fact that I could turn into a giant on top of that. But the fact remained, my aura reserves would determine how long I could remain in said Autobot form. If I had access to at least a big enough stream then _theoretically_ I wouldn't run out of Aura in a fight, and nothing said I couldn't carry water out in the field in a camel pack or something. Though if I wasn't able to keep at least the swords or pistols when I wasn't made out of metal I would have to buy back up weapons, which would be annoying.

I bowed my head in thought and considered my options for three minutes, going back and forth on which option would be the best one to keep me alive. Finally though, I gave a sigh and looked up at Taifun and said "I choose the Tac option."

Taifun stood up fully and said "Very well then." Suddenly going from my dresser to standing in front of me without seeming to move, he put a gloved hand on my forehead and said "Now I'm not going to lie here, the de-aging and mass to Aura conversion processes are going to be painful as hell so I think it's best if you're not aware for this." That was all the warning I got before my surroundings completely changed.

Scene Change: Remnant, Vale Shopping District March 1

I blinked as I suddenly went from sitting in my bedroom to standing on a rooftop. My body swayed as my mind took a moment to try and make sense of what it was perceiving now. Once I got my mental equilibrium back, I began taking stock of myself. I was still six feet tall thankfully, but my entire body was much thinner, my arms and legs lacking the muscle mass a decade of physical labor jobs had given them. Before I could lift roughly four hundred pounds at the extreme max. Now it was probably only two hundred pounds, though since I wasn't planning on using a war hammer as a weapon that wasn't really a problem.

I was wearing the usual for the time of year back home, jeans, t-shirt, and my favorite, and only, Carhartt jacket that had been with me since high school. A quick pat down had shown that once again, Taifun had been kind enough to send my phone with me, it resting in its usual spot in my left jean pocket. Apparently, he had also sent my wallet with me as well going by the bulge in the jeans' right pocket.

My inspection of what I came with came to an end when I heard the unmistakable sounds of gun shots. Instinctively ducking, it took a moment for me to realize no, I wasn't being shot at and still crouched I looked down in the street to see a little munchkin using her gun scythe to smack around some Mafia wannabe thugs.

"Huh, right at the start of the pilot episode. Well, you can't say Taifun doesn't have good timing." I mused to myself as I watched Roman Torchwick take a quick shot at her before making a run for it to a rooftop three buildings away. Watching him climb, I cocked my head and said "Hm, jump him as he gets to the roof or wait for the Bullhead in order to get both him and Cinder?"

I decided on the latter. Cinder would most likely run right away if I took Roman out right out the gate and while Taifun had said that the smaller version of Tac wouldn't run out of Aura as fast as the bigger version, he never said how long it actually would remain. It would be a rather bad end to the night and most likely my life if I converted back into my flesh and blood body while chasing a Bullhead over the city buildings.

Shaking my head from that morbid thought, I cocked my head and muttered to myself "Alright, now that that's decided, how do I switch forms-WHOA!" My yelp was due to the fact that a green light appeared at the bottom of my feet before shooting up to the top of my head, almost making me jump out of my skin. A moment later, I calmed down and glanced at my body. Seeing the green metal plating with black Celtic markings I said "So it's controlled mentally by thought, that's good to know."

I then noticed that there were icons and numbers floating at the top of my vision like what you would see in a HUD. First off was a small image of my current body, with the letters S and L stacked on top of each other next to it and numbers beside those. L had 5:00 while S had 59:55 and was counting downwards showing that it looked like I had an hour in my smaller form. Good to know it wouldn't wear off halfway during a battle so long as I didn't go all Attack On Titan. Beside the form counters was an icon of a pistol with the letters L and R stacked next to it, with the number a hundred next to both of them. So, a hundred shots from each pistol, most likely given their share of Aura at the start of each transformation, though I would have to experiment later to see if I could up that amount by pushing my Aura into the guns. There was another pistol icon next to it that had the symbol for sound waves coming out of the barrel with 30:00 beside it so thirty minutes for the Sonic Resonator Blaster in my right arm. The next icon was a pair of crossed swords, again with a stacked L and R next to it and the letters had another 30:00 so thirty minutes for their Vibrational function. Finally, there was an icon for missiles with 3 beside it.

I took that all in in ten seconds before I 'got my head out of the cockpit' so to speak and focused on the ongoing battle three rooftops away. Seeing fireballs being thrown cued me in that Cinder had taken over the fight. A crazy plan appeared, and shrugging to myself, I thought 'Eh, might as well try it.' And so, having absolutely no idea what I was doing, but willing to make the attempt, I did my best to focus on the hovering Bullhead trying to wirelessly connect with it. What? I was now a machine with a YF-12 Interceptor Jet as an alt form, and those had radio and other wireless based communication systems, it COULD be possible to access the bullhead's own systems. I outright cackled when an icon of said bullhead appeared in my vision and a quick 'glance' showed that I could access its systems.

Knowledge that my plan could work, my face shield slammed into place and I took a running leap, instinctively activating my boot thrusters to shoot up and out towards the bullhead. Roman, who at that point had been more concerned with what was happening against Ruby and Glynda Goodwitch only noticed my rapid approach in time to widen his eyes at the sight of me before I landed heavily on the top of the air craft. Instinctively activated magnetics in my boots kept me from toppling over as he tried to buck me off and I walked over to port side of the cargo section.

Cinder was helpful enough at that time to mark her position by throwing another fireball and I grinned behind my face shield as I gripped the top of the hatch and swung in, catching her square in the chest with both feet, causing the sound of bones snapping to ring out and flinging her into the other side of the cargo hold. As soon as I was inside, I activated the cargo hatch's door to close and brought the Sonic Resonator out, pointing it at Cinder before I cut loose, the sound bouncing around in the closed area causing both her AND Roman to clap their hands over their ears and yell out in pain. I quickly used my link with the bullhead to take control of the flight controls and put it on an autopilot controlled hover as I kept the assault of sound up for a few minutes.

(Third POV)

Ruby Rose wasn't sure what was going on anymore. She and the huntress beside her had been fighting the Burn Dustcaster equipped woman for a brief while before out of nowhere this robot with wings landed on top of the bullhead before swinging down to kick the woman further into the bullhead. As soon as the robot was inside, the cargo hatch closed and a loud humming sound filled the air, seeming to come from the bullhead itself. Ruby and the Huntress were both tense as they kept an eye on the bullhead, but all it did was hover there for three minutes, that loud humming sound continuing.

Thirty seconds into this new development, Ruby had glanced uncertainly at the Huntress, who she _thought_ was Glynda Goodwitch, Right Hand 'Man' of Beacon's Headmaster Ozpin, but the woman hadn't acknowledged the look, merely keeping her narrowed eyes on the bullhead, glyph out and ready to continue the fight if needed but not doing anything else. And so Ruby did the same, the pair of female warriors trying to be ready for whatever happened.

Still, for all of that, Ruby wasn't quite ready for the humming to suddenly cut off and the bullhead to begin lowering down to street level. Ruby and Glynda quickly sprinted over to the edge of the roof and looked down in time to see the bullhead land in front of a pair of cop cars and the cargo hatch open again. The robot strode out onto the street dragging a clearly unconscious Roman and the mystery woman behind him, blood trails coming from their ears, eyes, AND noses.

Glynda floated her and Ruby to ground level as the robot tossed his two captives in front of the cops' feet, a face shield sliding away revealing a surprisingly human looking face behind it. The robot nodded at the police officers and said "Gentlemen, I trust you know what to do with them."

"Uh, right. Thanks." One of the officers said, giving the robot a wary look before he and his partner grabbed the two villains and hand cuffed them before they dragged them into the back of one car before taking off, most likely to put the two into cells and leaving the last car and its two officers to continue trying to figure out just where such an obviously advanced robot had come from.

And then Ruby got the shock of her life as a green light appeared at the robot's head before shooting down to its feet revealing a blond haired blue eyed teenager with an unzipped jacket over regular street clothes. Ruby's eyes bugged out as she realized that the teen had a _mech based Semblance_! THAT WAS SO COOOOOOOL!

(1st POV)

I could _feel_ Ruby fangirling as I shifted back into human form. Grinning as I stretched my arms upward, I turned towards her and Glynda and bowed my head at the elder of the two as I said "Madam Goodwitch, I hope you didn't mind me stepping in."

Glynda pushed her glasses up her nose as she studied me for a moment before she nodded and said "Your aide is appreciated young man." Gesturing towards the police, she said "Could you come with me and the young lady to the police station, we need you to give a statement about tonight."

I nodded in acceptance before I glanced at the car. With two police officers, Glynda, me, AND Ruby, it'd be a bit crowded. I got an idea that had me smirking and turning back to Glynda, I said "You guys go ahead, I'll follow from the air." And before anyone could ask what I meant, I turned back into Tac, crouched, leapt up into the air and transformed into my Jet Mode, hovering in the air above them.

Ruby's shout of "That is so COOL!" had me openly cackling before I said over my speakers "Waiting for you guys now."

Time Skip: Fifteen Minutes Later, Vale Police Headquarters

I understandably attracted a lot of attention when I landed and changed back on the parking lot of the HQ, more than one officer staring from their cars as I followed everyone else into the building. Inside, the cops asked for our IDs and while Ruby handed her Scroll over to be scanned then returned, I had a bit of a problem. I had pulled out my wallet and showed them the Driver's License held inside but given how the United States of America didn't exist here, never mind South Carolina, the police obviously assumed that it was some joke forgery. That and I didn't _quite_ look like my older self. I simply shrugged and said "That's the only kind of ID I have."

It took a thorough pat down and the fact that my phone couldn't give them the ID they were looking for for the police to decide that my Driver's License _would_ have to do, the officer at the scanning machine slipping it into a slot on the machine for a minute before returning it. Glynda of course was trying to burn a hole through my head with her intent gaze during all of this.

There was only one chair in the interrogation room we were brought to. A bit of an oversight that, though a police officer soon brought in a second chair for me sit on next to Ruby. I leaned back with a sigh, closing my eyes and leaning my head back while Ruby sat ram rod straight. A moment later, I opened my eyes and brought my head back forward and said "You have questions yes?"

"I do, but those can come after I deal with her." Glyda said, narrowing her eyes at Ruby who gulped at the sight. As Glynda began a slow walk around the table to start her little bit of intimidation/psychological evaluation of the Scarlet Speedster, I closed my eyes again and only listened with half an ear. I didn't open them even as Ozpin came in and spoke with her, then invited her to Beacon.

It was only as Ozpin said "And then there is you young man." that I opened my eyes and straightened up in my seat. Ozpin took a sip from his cup of coffee and continued "I must admit that you interest me greatly Matthew Bandstra. You are not in any databases whatsoever, you carry no weapons but seem capable of turning into some kind of robot that does which in turn is capable of transforming into an aircraft of unknown origin, you do not appear as old as the picture in the id you gave us though facial recognition shows that you are a 100% match to it once your picture goes through an aging program, and said ID is for a place that doesn't exist on Remnant. So tell me Mr. Bandstra, how did you wind up on Remnant at least a decade younger than you should be?"

"Say what?!" Ruby asked startled, glancing between me and Ozpin in confusion. Glynda I noticed had raised eyebrows but was otherwise remaining professional.

Smirking, I leaned forward and said "I figured that if anyone would guess it that it would be you Ol' Ozzy. I'm assuming you've heard of the Multi-Verse Theory?" At Ozpin's nod, I shrugged and said "Yeah, turns out it's not really a Theory anymore. I was just relaxing in front of my computer working on some fanfiction of mine when a Randomly Omnipotent Being, R.O.B. for short, showed up and said he was going to toss me into Remnant. Keep in mind, Earth, the planet I'm from, has no Aura or Grimm, and while being a physical laborer meant I had plenty of muscle in my arms and legs, I wasn't exactly the most fit guy out there. Thankfully, the R.O.B., or Taifun as I know him, doesn't have a B for Bastard in front of his title so he wasn't going to send me as I am where I would just become a Grimm chew toy. You see, Taifun likes to think of himself as a pretty fair guy, dealing in Equivalent Exchange to give someone a way to survive in the new world he tosses them into. This time, he took away a little over a decade of my age and took those years and the body mass I lost and converted them into Aura, which in turn supplies the power to run this form."

I stood up and once again the green line appeared. When it finished going up my body, I spread my wings and said "This form is Tac, a Cybertronian, an Autobot to be exact, and a character I created in one of my stories. Cybertronians are autonomous robotic lifeforms from the planet Cybertron. There are several 'branch' species of them, and going into them all would take too long, but the relevant part is that there are two main factions, the Autobots and the Decepticons. These two factions have been at war for eons, a war that the Decepticons started when they tried to take over Cybertron. Their war ravaged the planet though and so their war took to the heavens. There are several different series set around this premise, but all of them are the same: victory by the Decepticons means death or slavery of all other sentient life."

I could see the glow from Ruby's star struck gaze out of the corner of my optics. Glynda Goodwitch herself had a severe frown on her face as she considered this for her fictional enemy, probably drawing a couple of 'far stretch' comparisons with the Grimm and their big bad Salem. Ozpin meanwhile calmly took a sip of his coffee and said "So, Mr. Bandstra, you said you came up with this form in one of your stories. So what exactly is it that you have made this form capable of?"

I nodded and began holding up fingers as I said "I'll cover the utilities abilities first I think. First off, all Cybertronians run off a substance called Energon. This body had been given a water to Energon converter in order to make it so that it could always have a ready source of Energon. Earth is 70% covered in the stuff after all. I'll have to check of course, but I'm pretty sure that that converter has been switched from Energon to Aura. Secondly, this form has two sizes, my current size, and the 'normal' Cybertronian size that is about thirty feet tall. I've got an hour run time for this size before I run out of Aura and change back but I can only maintain the larger form for five minutes so I need to make every second of that time count in a fight. Next, while the YF-12 Interceptor Jet that I turned into on the way here is my primary vehicle mode, I can scan other vehicles and turn into them as well. In my story, I had over two dozen different vehicles 'stored'. Unfortunately, it seems that that data wasn't included when I jumped worlds so I'll have to stock up as it were on Remnant vehicles. Moving on, given how this body is robotic, I'm capable of wirelessly linking up with anything with a computer in it while transformed. This body has a hologram projector that can cover me in a hologram to hide this metal form." I briefly shimmered into prequel-trilogy Han Solo before I dropped it and continued "Finally I have what is called a mini forge that can take raw materials and turn them into whatever I want." The left compartment on my forearm popped up and I pulled out the mini hammer. I tapped the interrogation table and it flashed white. What had once been a plain table made out of relatively cheap metal was now a table made out of titanium alloy with the Autobot symbol in the middle. As Ruby gave her expected "Coooool." I glanced at the Mini Forge and mused to myself "Hm, I _felt_ the drain on my Aura from that. I should probably see if it's possible to make a couple of Zero Point Energy Modules I could hook this thing up to when I want to use it."

Shelving that thought and putting the Mini Forge away, the compartment on my right arm opened revealing the weapon on it and I said "As for weapons, first off, I have this. It's a Sonic Resonator Blaster, and it basically does what it sounds like, blast sound waves at whatever I point it at. I can control how high and low the pitch is as needed."

"I assume that was what caused the loud humming sound we heard when you were inside of the bullhead." Glynda said with a raised eyebrow.

I nodded and said "Yeah, I thought it would be the best way to apprehend those two if I fired it off for a few minutes in an enclosed space."

"Which we appreciate greatly." Ozpin said, toasting me with his coffee cup, then immediately after took a sip out of and said "Please continue."

I nodded and said "Right." Pulling my swords out, I held them tip down on the table and said "These guys have a vibrational component in them, making it possible to cut through practically anything."

Sheathing the swords, I drew my right Barretta looking pistol and said "These Pistols fire energy shots. They WERE Energon based but are now Aura based, and I've got a hundred shots in each before I need to recharge them. And then I've got three of these."

My chest armor opened up and a Hughes missile slid out of the right side which I connected to the rail of my pistol. Ruby let out a yelp and quickly scooted her chair away and Glynda visibly tensed up at the sight. Ozpin though, cool cucumber that he was, merely raised an eyebrow and took another sip of coffee. Hefting the missile equipped pistol, I said "This is a Hughes AIM47 Falcon, originally called a GAR-9. It is a very long-range high-performance air-to-air-missile. This bad boy is capable of BVR, or Beyond Visual Range kills at 100 miles, and can travel at Mach 4."

Putting the missile back into my chassis caused Ruby to let out a sigh of relief even as she began looking excited again. Glynda untensed and said "An impressive weapon to be sure, but please do not wave it about so carelessly next time."

I gave a shrug and said "It's not like I had armed the thing, but fair enough."

"I highly doubt Mr. Bandstra would wave around a missile if there was a chance of it firing Glynda." Ozpin said with a small smile before he turned back to me and said "This body your Semblance provides you with is quite powerful Mr. Bandstra, but I believe we should move onto other matters. You claim your planet does not have Aura or Grimm, yet you still know what those are. Care to elaborate?"

Nodding, I shifted back to human form and sat back down on my chair as I said "There was a television show called RWBY, spelled R-W-B-Y that focused mostly on _her_ team."

I pointed at Ruby and her eyes grew wide as she also pointed at herself and asked _"Me?! I'm going to be a _teamleader_?!"_

"If things go the same way as the show? Yes." I said with a grin before I turned back towards Ozpin and continued "I've only seen the first eight episodes of the source material which had covered tonight up to team assignments, but thanks to other sources I do know about a good bit of other stuff, though I unfortunately don't have any dates for you."

"Pity, however, I will gladly take any information you have for me." Ozpin said with another sip of his coffee. Seriously, how much of that stuff could that mug hold?

Shaking my head from that distracting thought, I took a deep breath and looked upwards as I said "Let's see, I know that Ruby has a pair of Semblances, her 'normal' Semblance which is speed boosted and her 'dojutsu' or eye ability that as the name suggests rests in her Silver Eyes. I don't know the specifics of it, just that in the show it one shot a giant dragon grimm." Ruby gasped out a surprised "Whoa" and I hummed before I continued "I know that her team in the show was her partner Weiss Schnee, her sister Yang Xiao Long, and Yang's partner Blake Belladonna. I know the other three girls' Semblances. I know that while Blake is a former member of the White Fang, she joined when her parents created it and it was still a peaceful organization, and that she got out when she could no longer stand how it was turned into a terrorist organization. I know that Team JNPR will become a valuable partner to Team RWBY, and that it is composed of Jaune Arc, his partner Pyrrha Nikos, Nora Valkyrie, and her partner Ren Lie. I know what their Semblances can do and that while Jaune gets in on false transcripts, he plays a key role in what comes up in the future, especially since his Aura Boosting Semblance saves Weiss Schnee's life. I also know that he doesn't get his Aura unlocked until Initiation, when Pyrrha does it. I know that at some point either very recently or very soon, the Fall Maiden Amber is going to be attacked and half her powers will be stolen by Cinder Fall, who is the woman we caught tonight. That power is the reason why I took her and Roman down so hard in fact. In the show, the other half of Amber's Maiden powers was meant to go to Pyrrha Nikos, only Cinder killed Amber before the transfer could be made giving her that half as well. I know that Cinder Fall is working for Salem and has the White Fang working in turn for herself. I know that she would have orchestrated a Breach of Vale through a train rigged with explosives and later she would do something similar during the Vytal Festival. Part of the Vytal Festival attack would have been taking over Atlas' mechs, which was possible due to their operating systems being so rudimentary even _**I**_ could do it with my _one_ high school level class of computer coding, never mind what I could do while in my Tac form. Let's see, I know Ruby's Aunt Raven is leader of a bandit tribe, though I didn't actually see any of that part of the show. I know what you are Ozzy Osbourne, and that when your current body dies you'll share headspace with a farm boy named Oscar Pine."

I suddenly let out a cough and rubbed at my throat. Glynda used her telekinesis to fill a cup with water from the water jug that I hadn't noticed was in a corner of the room and floated it over to me. Toasting her with it in thanks, I emptied it in one go before I put the cup down on the table and continued "I know that Cinder Fall has two people under her direct employ: Mercury Black, who had his Semblance stolen by his father, however that works, and uses his two prosthetic legs to fight, and Emerald Sustrai, who has a mental Semblance that she once used to make Yang think that Mercury attacked her after their match in the Vytal Festival was finished making her shoot him in the leg. Not to mention how she made Pyrrha kill Atlas' android, Penny, who Ruby had befriended."

"She did what?!" Ruby hissed in anger with fists clinched, and I wasn't sure if it was what happened to Yang or her future friend that made her angrier.

"Miss Rose, please calm yourself, if that does happen to your sister here, I shall handle it, and I shall do everything to ensure this Penny's survival as well." Ozpin said and Ruby grumbled something before relaxing. Nodding, Ozpin looked at me and said "Anything else Mr. Bandstra?"

I nodded and said "Yeah, like we saw tonight, she's also got Roman Torchwick working with her. No clue about _his_ Semblance, but he's got a partner named Neopolitan, or Neo for short, who's got an illusion based Semblance, which shatters if it's broken. She uses an umbrella and a cane sword hidden inside said umbrella to fight. Girl's default form is a tiny woman at 4'10", Pink, White, and Brown hair, Heterochromatic eyes, whitetail jacket, brown pants, black gloves, and black and white boots with very high heels. I'm not sure if she's partially mute or just voluntarily, but every video I've looked up before that had her in it had her silent. Finally, I know the members of Salem's 'inner circle', though except for Cinder and one other, I just know their names." Ozpin showed the first bit of interest at that, leaning forward the slightest bit. At his gesture, I said "Tyrian Callows is a scorpion Faunus, and I'm pretty sure he's ten feet past the insanity cliff, believing Salem to be his goddess. Though given the fact that literal witch is thousands of years old, I can't blame him for that. The other two members that I know are Arthur Watts and Hazel Rainart. I _think_ I recall something about Haven Academy's headmaster, Leonardo Lionheart, being an informant of hers, but I can't verify that."

Glynda and Ozpin both had frowns as Glynda said "Sir, if Leo's turned…"

"I know." Ozpin said quietly. He closed his eyes for a long moment and Ruby said "Sir? You don't actually think a Headmaster would be a traitor do you?"

"I wish that I could say that I don't Miss Rose. Unfortunately, we must consider the possibility. Because if we don't, and it turns out that he actually is, then terrible things may happen that we could have prevented." Ozpin took yet another sip of his coffee before he opened his eyes with a sigh and turned their gaze on me as he continued "I thank you for all of this potential information Mr. Bandstra. Be assured that I will look into all of it appropriately. On another matter, could I interest you in joining Beacon alongside Miss Rose?"

I blinked at the seemingly straight out of left field question and cocked my head as I said "Alright, Ruby I can understand, but why me? Disregarding the fact that I pretty much don't exist here, wouldn't that make the number of students off balanced?"

Ozpin sighed and said "I'm afraid that there is already a rather big difference to this world and the show you witnessed. Jaune Arc is dead."

"Say _what_?!" I hissed, my eyes widening. No Jaune, no JNPR. No JNPR, no JNRR when RWBY split up and Ruby goes with Jaune, Nora, and Ren on whatever mission those guys went on after the 'Fall of Vale', never mind the fact that Jaune had helped Weiss recover from poison at some point.

"I learned about it from his parents who are good friends of mine. He died two days ago in a hit and run." Ozpin said, pulling out his scroll and making a few types and swipes on it before putting it away again. A moment later, Ruby's scroll and my phone both let out tones, mine my Text Message alert, which I suspected was also what Ruby's scroll just gave. Her gasp at whatever she saw on it had me glance at her out of the corner of my eye before I slipped my phone out of my pocket and looked down at it. Sure enough, there was a text message from an unknown number. Ozpin had somehow scanned my phone's number and sent it to me. Confirmation that iPhones and Scrolls were compatible set aside, I opened the text message and frowned at the image displayed on my phone.

It wasn't pretty. Both legs were clearly broken, as was the right arm, marks on the skin showing that the arm had been caught under a set of tires. Blood pooled from where the kid had hit the side of his head on the street and his chest cavity was collapsed, more marks that lined up with the ones on his arm showing that the guy had gotten the full weight of the vehicle on his chest. Even if paramedics had been on the side of the road when this happened he wouldn't have survived.

'That's Jaune alright, poor kid, without his Aura unlocked, he never stood a chance.' I thought to myself with a frown. A frown which only grew as another thought hit me. 'Sonnuvabitch! Taifun sent me here to _replace_ him, didn't he?! Not have to go to Beacon my ass.' Sighing, I said out loud "Well, that's just Prime." I looked up from my phone and across the table at Ozpin as I said "My condolences Headmaster, it looks like you lost a student before he ever set foot in your school."

"So it seems." Ozpin said with a solemn nod of his head before he looked back up at me and said "And in light of this and the information you provided about the team young Mr. Arc would have led, I find it particularly interesting that you would appear in a location that led to us meeting on the same night I met with Miss Rose. Quite a coincidence, wouldn't you say?"

"Gibbs Rule #39- There is no such thing as coincidence." I said absently. I ignored the raised eyebrow look Ozpin gave at that and sighed. Running a hand through my hair, I said "You want me to lead JNPR in place of Jaune."

"That would be the optimal scenario, yes. However, as I'm sure you know, the initiation has a small degree of randomness to it when it comes to creating teams. It's quite possible that someone else will become a part of JNPR, or even none of the other three members will be on a team together. What I am therefore asking is for you to fill a now empty slot. What happens after that we will have to take as it comes."

I considered for a long moment before I gave a deep sigh and nodded as I said "Alright, I'll have to link up with Vale's version of the World Wide Web and download everything a new Beacon student should know before their first year but I think I can make this work. Headmaster Ozpin, I formally accept your invitation to attend Beacon Academy."

"I am glad to hear it." Ozpin said with a smile, offering his hand which I shook. Releasing my hand, he said "Don't worry about the paperwork, I'll handle it. On that note though, do you wish for your name to remain the same on it or would you prefer to take up a new one that would fit better in this world?"

"Hm, yeah, Bandstra is a rather unusual name for this world isn't it?" I mused to myself before I hummed and said "Since I'm taking over Jaune's slot, I think Tac Arc would be a good homage to him."

"Very well then, Tac. I look forward to seeing you during Initiation. Miss Goodwitch well ensure that you are covered when it comes to the necessities until then." Ozpin said with a final nod to me before he walked out.

Or rather, he started to walk out only to pause as a harried policewoman rushed in. She leaned in to whisper something to Ozpin who gained a severe frown at what he heard. One hushed conversation later the policewoman left the interrogation room and Ozpin turned back towards us. Still frowning, he said "It seems that Roman Torchwick and Cinder Fall are now back in play."

"_Neo._" I growled, instantly understanding how the two could have escaped, or rather, been extracted given the condition I left them in. At Ozpin's confirming nod, I said "Well that's just _Prime_."

"Indeed, but with us now aware of them and their connection to Salem, we can plan accordingly. That is for me and my allies to worry about though. For now, I want you and Ruby to focus your attentions on your time at Beacon. Am I clear?" Ozpin asked firmly.

Ruby nodded rapidly a few times while I gave a single nod though I also said "Just don't expect me to stand by if we happen upon them again."

"That is acceptable." Ozpin said with another nod before he turned around, only to pause and turn back as he said "By the way, you'll be needing this. Consider it a consulting fee." He flicked a card at me shuriken style and when I caught it, I looked down to see that it had a small sticker on it saying "1,000 Lien". Looking back at him with a raised eyebrow, Ozpin smirked and said "I'm certain you will need to buy a fair amount of stuff tomorrow before you come to Beacon. It wouldn't do for the school to have a student who had only one change of clothes outside of the school uniform after all."

"Right, thanks for this." I said with a nod hefting the card before putting it in my wallet. Ozpin nodded before he turned back around and left the room.

Goodwitch led me and Ruby out of the police station after that, Ruby quickly heading over to where Yang had just pulled up on her motorcycle. The blonde had looked ready to launch a raid on the police headquarters as she took off her helmet but her attitude quickly did a 180 when Ruby came up to her and gave her a hug while beginning to chatter excitedly. Yang smiled down at her even as her eyes flicked towards me and Goodwitch for a moment before focusing back on Ruby fully.

Shaking my head at the sight, I said "Well that's her taken care of, where are we off to?"

"To a hotel that is nearby. Beacon shall pay for your stay there for the next two nights and then it will be time for you to come up to the school. I trust that you shall do as you said earlier and will have downloaded everything you need to know by that time as well as procured everything you need with your newly acquired funds." Goodwitch said, a raised eyebrow at the end.

I nodded and Goodwitch gave a curt nod of her own before she led me to the hotel I would be spending the next two nights in. She stayed just long enough to check me in then write where and when I needed to be in order to join the other students heading to Beacon before she left.

Time Skip: March 2

First thing I did after eating the complementary breakfast the hotel provided me was to go back up into my room and fill up every pot, pan, pitcher, and cup with water. With source of replenishable Aura at hand, I shifted forms, settling on the hotel room floor rather than the bed or any of the chairs, unwilling to risk what would happen if they had to try and take my new weight. Once settled, I took an unneeded breath and said "Alright, time for some Matrix style learning."

It took me a minute to properly figure out how to access something invisible like the Vale's CCT network, but once I did, I had a search bar up on my HUD and I said "Alright, let's start off with Vale education requirements for beginning Hunters and Huntresses." The search bar filled in with those words and soon I had a list of links detailing various subjects. I briefly skimmed the contents of the links before I set for all of the information to download. As a progress bar appeared for that, I changed the search bar to Vale Maps. Maps of the city and the country appeared and I chose the ones that looked the most detailed and put it in my downloading queue putting them in front of the Education ones (I really should have checked for Maps before Education, oh well). Third search was for a comprehensive list of Vale laws. Finally, I looked up sword styles that could use two blades. I didn't have a Wrecker to teach me in this world and I didn't want to be just flailing around with my two blades like an idiot. True, the knowledge I gained most likely wouldn't give me muscle memory to use in my human form, but so long as I had the knowledge to use the swords properly then I could work towards getting that muscle memory.

One of the styles I found actually had my jaw drop for a moment before I blinked five times and asked "Are you freaking kidding me?!" The style that I had found was for either single or double sword use but that wasn't what had me so flabbergasted. No, it was the sword that the style was made for, metal versions of the Type 1 Energy Sword that the Sangheili/Elites of Halo used. The website I was looking at even had a diagram for how the swords should be able to fold into the handles for storage purposes. Gaining a savage grin, I said "Oh hohoho, _yeeees_! I know what I'm making with the forge after I make it a charging station. I might even be able to make it so that it has both metal _and_ plasma blades. Being able to use the metal ones once I've drained the plasma one's charge would be perfect and make for a nice surprise if I'm fighting a large group."

Plan for my 'human use' weapons in mind, I stuck my hands in all of the water containers and absorbed their contents, causing the timer for maintaining my current form to gain an additional two hours of transformation time. I made a note that it seemed that the ratio was one gallon of water equaled one hour of run time before I turned on my hologram, grabbed my wallet, and headed out of the hotel room. I had supplies to buy.

As my downloads continued, I hit Vale's version of a Wal-Mart Supercenter, grabbing a bookbag and a duffle bag, basic necessities like shampoo/conditioner, body soap, toothbrush/toothpaste/floss, deodorant (Hunter grade of course), multiple changes of clothes including underwear and socks (Mostly casual wear from that store), and to cap it off, a box of the equivalent of this world's pop tarts, Chocolate frosted Peanut Butter of course, and three bags of Root Beer Barrel hard candies to last me for the first few weeks. (I have a sweet tooth, so sue me.) The last two things I bought as an afterthought were a camel pack that could hold 70 ounces (Or 0.54 Gallons, so an extra thirty minutes of run time), and a gallon of water.

Keeping the gallon of water in reserve for now, I stored it and the camel pack in the duffel bag as I went to a more specialized store that catered to Hunters and grabbed two sets of durable clothing to wear out in the field. I'd buy more as I got more money, those outfits were _expensive_. I made a note to look into changing glass into genuine gemstones at a future point, though the question of how I would actually sell them would have to be addressed first. Maybe get in touch with Junior…

My downloads finally completed themselves halfway to my third stop for the day so I dropped my transformation and spent thirty minutes on the next bench I saw just sitting there with my head back and eyes closed as the information settled into my now organic brain. When my raging headache _finally_ settled down, I rubbed my forehead with both hands and said "Right, note to self, don't binge download several thousand pages of information in one go."

Wishing I had thought to buy the local equivalent of aspirin when I was at the supercenter, I got up and made my way to my last planned stop for the day, a store that sold metalworking supplies. A metal bucket (Usually used to hold hot pieces of slag metal or scraps for recycling), a ten foot coil of copper wire, and three sheets of two by two feet of aluminum later and I had everything I thought I should buy today.

I needed a cab to get all of my purchases back to the hotel (There just wasn't enough room for all of that metal.) Fortunately, the hotel was one that catered to Hunters so they had a basic workshop for basic weapons' maintenance. It didn't have a forge of course, but it did have basic tools and there was a wash station for when you needed to clean a weapon part which made it perfect for what I needed.

Shifting into my Tac form, I converted the gallon of water I had brought, then for good measure, refilled the jug and converted THAT water as well before I set the metal bucket, one of the sheets of aluminum, and two thirds of the copper wire together, bucket on top of sheet, wire in bucket. Ejecting the micro forge from my left arm, I held it near the supplies and said "Well, here goes nothing."

Five taps of my hammer later, I had the final product. I had used multiple taps in order to 'transfigure' the materials into the final project in 'stages' of complexity, thus making each change take less Aura then it would have taken to make the change in one go. I still had to add an Aura charge in the middle but the end result was worth it. There was a water to aura/electricity converter sitting in front of me. It looked like a two foot metal cube with a funnel coming out of one side, a power level gauge on one of the sides connected to the funnel, a hole that I could put the micro forge's handle in to transfer the power to it, and a bunch of power outlets for other things to hook up to, from the regular three hole socket to USB ports. I had also had the foresight to put roller wheels on each of the bottom corners and a retractable handle for easy transport. I could either pour five gallons into the converter in one go and store that amount of aura until I needed or I could pour a constant amount of water in and have the aura automatically transfer to the forge if it was connected.

Grinning at the sight resting on the workbench in front of me, I rubbed my hands together and said "Now to make something really badass."

Time Skip: The Next Day, March 3, En Route To Beacon

Tempting as it was to fly to Beacon in my YF-12 jet form, I decided that it would be better to take the air ship, which led me up to now. The air ship had left its dock twenty minutes ago and I was making my way through it to find Ruby. I had already spotted the three members of my possible future team as well as Weiss and Blake on the two top levels. I think I just about gave the latter a heart attack when I winked at her then mimed zipping my lips.

That had me chuckling as I climbed the stairs down to the bottom deck (we had boarded from the top section in the Vale airport for some reason) and immediately locked onto my target. Spotting her and Yang standing together looking through the windows at Beacon, I stepped up on Ruby's side that her sister wasn't occupying and said "That's quite a sight, isn't it?"

"Matt! Er, I mean, Tac!" Ruby said, her eyes lighting up at first before she turned sheepish as she realized her mistake.

"Ruby." I said with a slight nod of my head.

"Oh, and who might this be?" Yang asked, nudging Ruby in the ribs and grinning as she teased "Has my sister found a boyfriend already?"

"Yaaaang, stop it. He's just the guy who helped me the other night." Ruby said, pouting at her bigger sister.

"Uh-huh, and the two names thing?" Yang asked, eyebrow raised.

"I prefer my nickname to my original one." I said with a shrug.

A shrug Yang returned before she leaned in with a serious look on her face and said "So 'Tac', tell me honestly, what are your intentions towards my little sister?"

"Yaaaaang, stop it!" Ruby whined.

I though snorted and said "Yang, I've spent maybe thirty minutes total around her, most of that in an interrogation room, we're nowhere near dating, heck at this point, we're not even proper friends yet."

"We're not? But I thought-" Ruby said, trailing off at the end with a slightly hurt look.

"Ruby, we had one short fight and a debrief together, that makes us acquaintances, not friends. Give it a few more interactions between us to see if we're actually compatible with each other first eh?" I said, giving the little reaper a kind smile.

"Okay." Ruby said, giving me a small smile as well.

Smile turning to a grin, I continued "But that said, I think you'll be interested in a little something I made yesterday."

"What's that?" Ruby asked with a cocked head, and Yang's eyes showed interest as well.

"Get a load of this!" I said, bringing one of the hilts clipped to my belt up and pressed one of the two triggers on the hilt and with a _snap-hiss_! sound a pair of plasma blades shot out in a tear drop shape. I had the satisfying experience of seeing Yang's jaw drop as I proudly said "I give you the Type 1 Energy sword. It can pretty much cut through anything, though it unfortunately has a ten impact limit to it. But that's okay, because it has back up blades as well." I turned off the plasma blades and unfolded the metal ones which almost seemed to gleam with wicked intent. Smirking at the stars I could see in Ruby's eyes, I asked "So, what do you think? Not bad eh?"

"That is so _cool_!" Ruby squealed, yes, squealed as she began fangirling over the weapon. Yang though groaned and said "Oh great, now you've got her started."

I smirked at the bombshell and said "Why Yang, I thought it was the job of an older sibling to be supportive of their younger sibling's hobbies."

A stuck out tongue was my answer and I laughed at the sight before turning my focus back to Ruby. If she was excited now, wait until I offered to upgrade Crescent Rose for her.

END

Author's Notes: Update Schedule and Poll on my Profile. Please look at the poll if you haven't already, at the time of posting this, it's only got thirteen votes so far, and that's nowhere near as large a sample size as the thing being voted on deserves.

Well, this turned out even longer than Version 1's intro chapter. Honestly, I probably should have held off on making the charger and Type 1 swords until a future chapter, but in my mind, it made sense to get back up weapons as soon as possible. There will be times where it's not a good idea to be a super heavy robot after all.

Anyways, hope you guys liked this one, it's time to get to the One Piece section of my roster. Again, make sure you participate in the current poll, it deals in whether I will add one final story to my roster this go around. I would _like_ to have at least a hundred votes so that way I have a proper data set to work off of, so please vote, otherwise I'll think I have to put it to a coin toss.


	2. Chapter 2

2\. That Wasn't Supposed To Happen

Walking behind Ruby and Yang when we got off the transport was an interesting experience if nothing else. Ruby _actually_ turned into a floating chibi as she geeked out over the weapons that some of the upper classmen had as they moved around the academy grounds. As Yang tried to get her sister to make more friends than just me and her, I saw Weiss coming up with her cart full of luggage. Catching her eye, I pointed at the sisters then spun my finger in the classic 'go around please' gesture. Weiss raised an imperious eyebrow at me but did in fact change course slightly.

I let out a sigh at having removed the drama that would have come about from Ruby falling on the socialite's luggage only to catch said Reaper as Yang darted away with her suddenly appearing friends fast enough to make Ruby spin around with swirly eyes. Holding her shoulders as she recovered, I glanced down the walkway as Yang rapidly retreated and said "Sheesh, I know she's playing the 'force them to grow via sink or swim' method but that was just plain rude."

Recovering, Ruby made a small whining sound before she turned her head to look up at me and gave me a puppy dog look she probably learned from Zwei as she asked "You're not going to abandon me are you Tac?"

I rolled my eyes and said "No, but Yang DID have a point you know." Pushing her back to standing on her feet properly, I continued "We're going to be working in teams of four from now on. Starting tomorrow, you're going to have to get used to interacting with others than just me and Yang."

"That is a problem for tomorrow, and I'll happily let tomorrow me deal with it." Ruby said with a pout and crossed arms. She then cocked her head at me and asked "Besides, you already told me who I'm going to be on a team with, why do I need to try and make friends with anyone else?"

"I said who a _version_ of you was on a team with Ruby, there's no guarantee that the teams will remain the same as in the show. It is quite possible that you will wind up on a team with three boys instead of three other girls, one with an equal mix of genders, one where there are no Faunus or just you as a full blooded human, etcetera. After all, things are already different with me replacing Jaune since I already know how I'm going to handle the first part of the initiation while he was literally flailing around like a guy who went skydiving without a parachute." I said, before I lightly nudged her a step forward and continued "Now come on, we've got half an hour before we need to be in the auditorium, let's see if we can't track down a directory we can study for a bit."

"Fine." Ruby said with a defeated sigh as she followed me to the closest building.

Time Skip: Twenty Five Minutes Later

The minute she saw it on the campus map we found Ruby had insisted we get at least a peak at the Forge on campus grounds. Against my better judgement I had followed her there. I wound up dragging her away by the wrist when it got closer to time for orientation. Now we were entering the auditorium, and Yang was there waving her hand and calling for Ruby to join her. Ruby glanced uncertainly up at me and said "Um, thanks for sticking with me Tac, but Yang's calling for me and there's only one spot by her so..."

Rolling my eyes, I lightly pushed her forwards and said "Get going Ruby, I'll be fine."

"Sorry." Ruby said quietly even as she ran over to join her sister. As the two began chatting, I took a glance around and tsked lightly to myself. First day of school and I could already see the cliques forming up, friends from previous combat schools sticking together and not giving room for others to join their group, the loners leaning against the walls with at least five feet between each other and even that one guy with earbuds hooked to his scroll ignoring everybody else while lightly banging his head to whatever he was listening to. Then I glanced to my seven o'clock position and thought 'Well, that could work.'

Turning, I threaded my way through the groups where a particular red head was standing by herself, a five foot bubble of space around her even as everyone nearby was sending particular looks her way. Giving her a nod, I asked "Ma'am, mind if I join you?"

Pyrrha Nikos, she couldn't be anyone else with that coloration and how everyone was acting around her, blinked once before she gave me a fake if polite smile and said "I don't mind."

Nodding, I took a spot a couple feet to her right before turning slightly holding out my hand and said "The name's Tac Arc by the way, call sign War Hawk."

Politely accepting the hand for a quick shake, she said "Pyrrha Nikos, don't have a call sign I'm afraid." She then cocked her head and asked "And I'm sorry, but 'War Hawk'? That seems like a descriptive title most people would try to avoid having placed on them."

I smirked the slightest bit evilly and said "Maybe, but that title's a _wee bit_ more literal when it comes to me. You'll know what I'm talking about the first time you see me use part of my Semblance in a combat situation."

"Oh, I see." Pyrrha said, clearly NOT seeing but pushing through her confusion as she asked "Do you think we'll actually be using call signs while we're here?"

I shrugged again and said "I think that depends on what the leader of the team you're assigned wants to do, though I'm definitely going to suggest it to my leader if I don't get the role."

Pyrrha nodded slowly and said "I suppose I should start thinking of one then."

"Could always go with Spartan for simplicity's sake, you certainly look the part." I said with a smirk.

Pyrrha let out a hum at that but before our conversation could either continue or simply end on that note, Ozpin tapped the microphone set up on the dais at the front of the auditorium and said "I'll...keep this brief. You have traveled here today in search of knowledge, to hone your craft and acquire new skills, and when you have finished, you plan to dedicate your life to the protection of the people. But I look amongst you, and all I see is wasted energy, in need of purpose, direction."

More than a few people whispered to themselves at that part, not that I could blame them, it was almost like having _Professor_ Snape calling kids dunderheads during their first Potions class.

I shook that thought off as Ozpin continued "You assume knowledge will free you of this, but your time at this school will prove that knowledge can only carry you so far. It is up you to take the first step."

Ozpin stepped away from the microphone at that point and Goodwitch took his place as she said "You will gather in the ballroom tonight. Tomorrow, your initiation begins. Be ready. You are dismissed."

Humming as everyone around us began to file out, I glanced at Pyrrha and said "Well, the man did say that he would keep it brief, didn't he?"

"Indeed." Pyrrha said with a short nod.

Shrugging, I turned to follow the others out of the hall and said "Well, I don't know about you, but I want to explore some more, see ya around Spartan."

"Bye." Pyrrha said. Softer, I heard her say to herself "I guess he didn't recognize me and was trying to get close after all and just wanted somewhere to stand."

I smirked and thought 'Oh you have NO idea Miss Nikos.' Chuckling to myself, I left the auditorium and went to see what the library looked like.

Time Skip: Thirty Minutes Later

I was near the back of the library, studying the large map of Remnant spread across the wall. Cocking my head, I asked "You just going to stand there glaring at me or are you going to actually come over here so that we can talk Blake?"

Silence for several moments. Then, right behind me I heard "Who are you? And how do you know me?"

Turning around to see the Faunus barely a foot away with narrowed eyes, I said "This may come as a surprise to you Blake but there IS information about you and your family out there, you just need to know where to search." Holding up my phone to show her an _old_ picture of her with her family, I continued "Your father is the leader of your settlement, it doesn't matter how well you cover your tracks, you can't cover that one." Putting my phone up, I continued "I'm not going to bring any attention to what you are but don't expect that bow to hide it from anyone else for long, especially not with those eyes of yours."

Blake narrowed said eyes at me but after a moment, she let out a sigh, closing her eyes for a moment before she opened them again and said "If I find out that you did say anything to anyone else-"

"You'll turn me into a scratching post." I interrupted with a wave of my hand. Blake huffed again before she turned around and powerwalked away. I let out a slight hum before I turned back around and continued studying the map, saying lowly to myself "Well, that went better than I thought."

Thank goodness I COULD find that picture, otherwise that bit of impulsiveness on the transport could have had some rather unpleasant consequences. Still, once the teams were formed I'd have to keep an eye on how that girl interacted with the others to prevent her from turning into a paranoid Mad Eye Moody and start thinking everyone was out to get her. Well, unless by some cruel twist of fate she wound up on a team with Cardin. If that happened and the asshole started something then he'd get what he deserved.

Time Skip: Ballroom That Night

After showering, I waded through all of the sleeping bags until I reached my target. Setting my sleeping bag down then sitting on it indian style, I asked "So did you see anywhere else after old Ozzy's speech or did you just go straight back to the forge?"

"Hey, I saw more areas!" Ruby said indignantly before she lightly blushed and said "I checked out the cafeteria before I went back."

I let out a snort at that before we glanced over at Yang as she dropped down onto her sleeping bag and said "It's like a big slumber party!"

"I don't think Dad would approve of all the boys, though." Ruby said, going back to her letter.

"I know I do!" Yang said, almost purring like her potential future partner, eyes roaming over all of the boys in the ball room who had their shirts off showing the results of several years of combat training. Seriously, I wasn't ashamed of the shape my body was in but I had some serious catching up to do in the muscle category. Some of those guys looked like they could bend rebar between their pointer fingers.

I shook that thought from my mind when Yang asked "By the way, what's that you're working on?"

"A letter to the gang back at Signal. I promised to tell them all about Beacon and how things are going." Ruby said.

"Aw, that's so _cuuuute_!" Yang said with a grin only to get knocked back when Ruby threw a pillow at her face.

Giving her sister an angry look, Ruby said "Shut up! I didn't get to take my friends with me to school! It's weird not knowing anyone here!" Seeing Yang's eyes flick to me, Ruby huffed and said "Tac doesn't count! Our bond was forged in combat, it's totally different!"

"Boy, don't I feel special." I said with a chuckle before I continued "But you know, with how initiation is set up, you're going to be doing pretty much the same thing tomorrow."

"Oh, you know what we're doing?" Yang asked, leaning forward eagerly.

"Yes, if you have any forewarning, I would quite like to know about it as well." Weiss said, suddenly appearing kneeling beside my right shoulder.

I jerked in surprise and asked "How'd you get all the way over here when you were by the main entrance not thirty seconds ago?"

Weiss smiled beautifully and said "An heiress can always detect situations that will benefit her."

"_Riiiiight_." I drawled out before I shook my head and said "Anyways, not to go too far into details here, but the initiation test is a search and retrieve mission. Your partner for the next four years, and most likely beyond if we're being honest here, is chosen semi randomly, only semi because if you're careful you can prevent the selection process from occurring until you find a person who you believe is the best fit with you."

"I see." Weiss said with a hand on her chin. She soon gained a rather 'evil' smile with dark clouds and lightning somehow appearing over her head as she said "I shall obtain Pyrrha Nikos as my partner and together, we shall be unstoppable! Mwahahaha!"

I rolled my eyes and lightly chopped the top of her head and said "No, bad Weiss, no treating Spartan like the only option."

Weiss rubbed at the top of her head as she stared at me wide eyed and said "You hit me..."

"You're at a combat school kid, it's going to happen a lot." I said with a snort.

Weiss flushed and asked "Excuse me, who are you calling a kid?! You're the same age as we are!"

"Uh...actually-" Ruby started only for me to interrupt with a wave of my hand and said "Let's save that story for once the teams are formed up and I can explain some things Ruby."

"Oh, okay." Ruby said with a nod.

Weiss and Yang looked between the two of us and Yang said "I'm missing something here."

Weiss' eyes widened a moment later as she asked "Wait, you don't have Natasha Highlander Syndrome do you?!"

"What's Natasha Highlander Syndrome?" Yang asked now thoroughly lost.

"It's an aging disease, where the human body ages incredibly slowly. Its counterpart is Progeria Disease, where the human body ages incredibly quickly, around four times as fast. Most people with it die around the age of thirteen." Weiss said, looking at me with now somber eyes.

Yang looked at me pityingly and said "Wait, you mean you're actually over forty and STILL can't go into bars?"

I snorted at that and said "Close, Miss Schnee but not quite. I'll be telling my team my circumstances after initiation, and if you two aren't on it as well then I'll inform you as well, but neither of those diseases is the cause."

"Hang on, why does Ruby know about whatever this is?" Yang asked looking between us again.

"His only ID didn't match when we went to the police station." Ruby explained.

"Oh. Well, that just raises more questions." Yang said, scratching her head in confusion.

"Indeed, like why you two were at a police station?" Weiss stated with crossed arms.

"We were there when Roman Torchwick was apprehended so we had to give statements. It's actually why we are attending Beacon despite Ruby's and my ages. Professor Goodwitch was also on site when this went down and Ozpin came to the station after we got there and apparently thought we would be good fits given our combat skills." I said with a shrug.

"Asked to attend by the Headmaster himself." Weiss said lowly, looking at me and Ruby with new eyes.

"Yeah, my little sister's a badass." Yang said, giving said little reaper a proud hug earning a blush and a groaned "Yaaaang." from the scarlet speedster who currently didn't need her cloak to fit the title.

Shaking my head with a chuckle, I leaned a little forward and dropped my voice as I said "Just wait until Ruby unlocks her eyes Yang, then she's going to REALLY be badass. She's going to be a battlefield changer."

"What do you mean by that?" Yang asked.

"Indeed, what's so special about her eyes? I mean, silver IS a rather rare eye color I suppose, but unless her semblance is to shoot out ocular laser blasts, how powerful could they be?" Weiss asked, also leaning in and speaking quietly.

"Fully awakened Silver Eyes are Anti Grimm Weapons, capable of petrifying or in some cases outright disintegrating them in an instant, though some of the biggest ones can resist the effect to some degree. It should be noted though that _technically_ the effected Grimm are still alive so the bigger ones can draw more Grimm to them. Still, once turned to stone, they are MUCH easier to get rid of." I said with crossed arms.

"And Ruby has this Power?" Yang asked, slightly awed before she blinked in realization and asked "Wait, mom had Silver Eyes as well so does that mean she could do it too?"

"The Silver Eyed Warriors are an _ancient_ lineage of legendary warriors, as in Pre-Hunter era ancient. The eyes ARE passed down through DNA from parent to child but I'm pretty sure that the knowledge of them has become quite sparse so I cannot say for certain if the older Mrs. Rose could use the ability." I said, glad that I had been interested enough in the Silver Eyes to do a Wiki search when I was reading the RWBY collection of the Loops Series.

"You seem to be pretty knowledgeable about it." Weiss pointed out.

I shrugged and said "I came across it once or twice in my various readings. Like I said, details are sparse, but there are enough to make probable leaps of logic."

"I don't suppose those readings said what triggers them?" Ruby asked hopefully.

"Perseverance, more specifically, the will to preserve the life of those close to the person." I said with a nod at Yang.

"I see." Ruby said, looking down in thought before snapping her suddenly wide eyes back up as I shrugged and said "Course, my way of doing things will make it a lot easier than having to focus on loved ones or rely on emotional distress to activate them."

"But your eyes are blue." Weiss pointed out.

"Doesn't mean I didn't think about how to reliably use those suckers if I ever ran into someone with them." I said with a shrug.

"And what's your method?" Yang asked, her and Ruby leaning in curiously.

"In a word: Hypnotism. Put Ruby into a state where her conscious mind is temporarily replaced with her subconscious and emplace a trigger for the ability that Ruby can activate." At all three of their incredulous looks, I shrugged and said "I was planning on bringing it up with Ozpin a week into classes, let him get in touch with Ruby's guardian for permission first before we set up what we need for this to work." More specifically, I was going to wait for the green light before I made myself a hypno gun. Better to avoid the temptation such a device would offer for as long as possible then destroy the thing immediately after. That or stick it in a titanium lock box that Ozpin kept down in the crypt, either or really.

"Well, hypnotherapy _is_ considered a valid technique." Weiss said, though she was looking at me with slight suspicion now.

Seeing the suspicion, I snorted and said "I just know the theory Weiss, I don't secretly have an army of hypnotized minions waiting for me to give the signal to rise up and give me the world."

Yang snickered at that and Ruby lightly giggled behind her hand. Weiss though frowned slightly and said "Very well, but I'll be watching you mister."

"Watch away, but you won't find anything." I said with a smirk.

"We'll see." Weiss said, before she stood up and said "Well, as _interesting_ as this conversation has been, I think we should all think about going to sleep, tomorrow is an important day after all. Good Night you three."

"Good Night!" The three of us said together. As Weiss walked away, I glanced out of the corner of my eye to where Blake was against the wall reading her book. A moment later, she felt my eyes on her and she glanced up. A moment later, she gave me a slight nod and mimed zipping her lips shut before looking back down at the pages before her.

Sighing to myself as I slipped into my sleeping bag, I thought 'I am SO glad Cinder wasn't around to hear all of that. I need to take proper precautions when I have that chat with RWBY and JNPR's members after Initiation.' Said preparations would include a faraday cage and a frequency scrambler, a room with no windows to prevent laser mics from working, and possibly a way to seal the doorway with a foot thick metal plate that had an air tight fit. Well, either that or come up with a device that made a small pocket dimension, either or really.

Shaking my head, I thought to myself 'Save that kind of paranoia for later Matt, otherwise you'll never get to sleep.' Giving a deep sigh, I began mentally playing the Telescope episode of Big, Bigger, Biggest through my head. I was asleep before I got past how the lenses were grinded into proper shape...

The Next Morning: Beacon Cliff

I made it a point to be in and out of the locker room as quickly as possible, grabbing my Type One swords and my full camel pack then avoiding the drama of Ruby berating Yang for even thinking about not being on her team and Weiss trying, and failing, to make a sales pitch to Pyrrha. I was _tempted_ to step into that last one for Pyrrha's sake but the redhead was the 'Invincible Girl', an overachieving heiress was probably par for the course with her fans so she should be able to handle it. Now, if it was a _guy_ being that dogged, I'd have stepped in just to make sure they knew that someone was watching and so wouldn't get any ideas but since Weiss to my knowledge didn't swing that way...

Anyways, since I was in and out so fast I was the first to the cliff, moving towards the tile directly next to Ozpin and Goodwitch. Giving them both a nod of greeting as I reached the tile, I said "Morning Professors."

"Good morning Mr. Bandstra." Ozpin said, taking a sip from his coffee before he continued "I saw the text message you sent me twenty minutes ago. I am willing to allow you to try, _if_ you are certain it could work and not cause negative effects."

The message he was talking about was _Neo Forge could adapt stasis chamber into healing chamber_. I had wanted to head to one of the ballroom's walls and bash my head on it for ten minutes straight when I had had the passing thought of modifying Amber's stasis chamber to actually repair the damage done to her Aura.

Giving a firm nod, I said "I am certain that the tool will work as needed, the only question is just how much power it will take."

"I see, we will look into it further then once you've had a couple of days to settle in." Ozpin said, taking another sip of his coffee.

I gave a nod only to blink as Ruby was suddenly right next to me in a rush of rose petals and a happy call of "Hi Tac!"

"Ruby," I said with a nod of greeting before I raised an eyebrow and said "You seem eager to start."

"Why wouldn't I be? This is my chance to show off Crescent Rose and see other people's weapons in action!" Ruby said, pulling said collapsible scythe off and hugging it, fortunately with it still in its compact form.

"Indeed." Ozpin said, an amused smile on his lips that was covered by yet another sip of his coffee.

"Eep!" Ruby yelped in surprise, quickly putting Crescent Rose back on her back and said "I'm so sorry about that Headmaster Ozpin."

"It's fine Miss Rose, but don't forget that you have a mission to do today. Focus on your objectives first, the weapons around you second." Ozpin said.

"Yes sir!" Ruby said, actually saluting the old man. I saw Goodwitch's lips tick the smallest bit upwards, the only sign of her amusement and I shook my head with a chuckle.

Soon after that, we were joined by the others, Yang moving to stand on the other side of her sister of course, Pyrrha after her and so on. Once everyone was in place, Ozpin said "For years, you have trained to become warriors, and today, your abilities will be evaluated in the Emerald Forest."

Goodwitch picked up the explanation as she said "Now, I'm sure many of you have heard rumors about the assignment of 'teams'. Well, allow us to put an end to your confusion. Each of you will be given teammates...**today**."

Ruby let out a small sound of distress at that, but apparently forewarned was indeed forearmed in this case given that was all she did.

Ozpin took a sip of his coffee before he continued "These teammates will be with you for the rest of your time here at Beacon. So it is in your best interest to be paired with someone with whom you can work well. That being said, the first person you make eye contact with after landing will be your partner for the next four years."

I could _hear_ Ruby's inner world shattering as her eyes widened and she asked "**Whaaaaaaat?!**" Apparently, she had been hoping it would be something easily controllable like the first person you talked to who responded back. Sorry Ruby, no such luck.

A little further down the line, I heard Nora say to Ren "See? I _told_ you!"

Ozpin meanwhile wasn't done speaking as he said "After you've partnered up, make your way to the northern end of the forest. You will meet opposition along the way. Do not hesitate to destroy everything in your path...or you **will** die. You will be monitored and graded through the duration of your initiation, but our instructors will not intervene. You will find an abandoned temple at the end of the path containing several relics. Each pair must choose one and return to the top of the cliff. We will regard that item, as well as your standing, and grade you appropriately. Are there any questions?"

"Just one sir, what counts as 'landing'? Do we have to be on solid ground or do the trees count?" I asked.

"The moment your momentum from your launch is stopped is when the met eyes rule comes into effect." Ozpin said, taking another sip of coffee.

"Got it." I said with a nod.

"Good, then if there are no other questions, take your positions." Ozpin said and everyone prepared for the launch, the tiles beginning to springboard them off one after another from the other end of the line. I noted Yang winking at Ruby as she put a pair of aviator sunglasses on before she got launched, Ruby grinning to herself in excitement just before she too was sent flying. I gave Ozpin and Goodwitch a nod of farewell then put on a disposable wraparound pair of safety glasses I took from the hotel repair shop for this exact reason an instant before I was launched into the air with an excited "**YEEEEEEEHAAAAAAW**!"

I enjoyed the rush of air around me and the trees flying past underneath for a solid minute (Those spring boards had some serious power!) before I heard Crescent Rose begin rapidly barking out a series of shots to slow her owner down. A glance around showed the others beginning their own landing strategies as well. Before I could ready myself for my own landing though, a loud screech filled the air and had me snapping my head upwards. Seeing the giant ass Nevermore coming down from the clouds and straight towards me, my expression went flat and feeling like a certain red haired superspy, I said "Oh, it's you."

The Nevermore let out another cry as it moved on an intercept course to swallow me whole. As it got closer, my hands snapped to hover a little above and in front of my shoulders even as green light swept up my body...

Scene Change: Ruby Point of View

It was a peaceful day over the forest. The sun was shining, there was a nice mix of clouds and clear sky, a small crow was cawing as it flew through the air...and then the crow was knocked out of the sky in a burst of feathers as Ruby ran right through it, the girl crying out in distress "Birdy, no!"

The Scarlet Speedster didn't have much time to mourn the poor bird, immediately having to pull out Crescent Rose and firing five times to slow her speed down before back flipping once, turning Crescent Rose into its scythe form, hooking it on the blade on a tree and spinning around it to bleed off even more speed before continuing her descent. Landing in a three point landing that only didn't completely ruin her leg muscles thanks to her Aura, Ruby shot forward as she said to herself "Alright Ruby, you've got this, just meet up with Weiss like Tac told you you would and everything will be fine, yeah, no problem."

A moment later, Ruby spotted a speck of white up ahead and her eyes lit up and a smile began to form on her lips. But just as she began to get within a hundred feet of her future partner, there was an unholy screeching sound coming from up above as a pair of titans fell...

Point Of View Change: Weiss

Weiss had made a perfect landing if she said so herself. A few glyphs to reduce her speed followed by a slightly crouched landing that she was certain her older sister Winter would nod at in approval. She was just looking around herself in an attempt to figure out which way she should go to find Pyrrha Nikos when an unholy racket filled the air before three large objects shot down from the air and slammed into the ground not twenty five feet from her. Lowering her arms from where she had instinctively covered them from the dirt the objects had kicked up with their landing, her eyes widened as she saw a quite large Nevermore with both of its wings cut off struggling to its feet with a pained squawk.

Before it could get more than halfway up though a flash of green shot down and a massive green mech with black markings all over its body and wings on its back slammed into the Creature of Grimm's back, a pair of equally large swords stabbed hilt deep into the foul fowl's flesh. The Nevermore let out another tortured scream before it began disintegrating and the large robot stood up straight, easily maintaining its balance as the body underneath disappeared. The mech stared down at the body until it was completely gone before it snapped its gaze up and Weiss felt a chill go down her spine as she stared into the cold blue eyes set in an otherwise faceless helmet that seemed to be burning a hole through her.

Weiss would deny it for the rest of her days but all of her vaunted training went out the door at that moment and her instincts kicked in, rather prudently choosing flight over fight. Spinning around, she said "_Nope_." The next instant, she shot down the line of acceleration glyphs she had made getting the hell out of there, actually leaving a dust trail as she went.

Point Of View Change: Ruby

Ruby stared at where her future partner HAD been before turning her stunned gaze to her ten thirty position and took in how the large mech actually _shrugged_ to itself before spinning the blades in its hands once before sheathing them on its back in between its large wings. It took a moment due to the sheer size disparity between now and a few days ago but Ruby belatedly matched the thirty foot Titan's form with the much smaller six foot robo form Tac had showed her. Eyes wide in awe, Ruby asked "Tac?"

The figure turned towards her and the face shield over his mouth area slid to the side, that action of revealing the mouth somehow turning the sight of his optics from harshly cold to soothingly cool. Bringing a hand up to rub the back of his head, the world jumper chuckled and said "Heh, heh, sorry Ruby, looks like I accidentally scared off your partner."

Ruby was silent for a moment before her eyes began shining like stars as she said "Oh my GOSH, _LOOK AT YOU, __**THIS IS AWESOME**_!"

Point of View Change: Tac

As Ruby somehow turned into a chibi and began zooming around me muttering only she knows what to herself, I sighed and said "Should have seen this coming." Snatching the girl out of the air when she completed yet another circuit around me, I held the girl by the back of her hood and said sternly "Ruby, _focus_. We have a test to complete remember."

"Eh, heh, right." Ruby said slightly contrite. Setting her now normal form back on the ground, I deactivated my semblance, rapidly shrinking back down to my much more normal six foot height. Taking off the safety glasses, I slipped them in the camel pack's side pocket and said "So pop quiz little reaper, which direction is North?"

Ruby's eyes widened slightly in mild panic as her head swiveled around and began pointing in various directions as she said "Um, it's that way! No, wait, I mean that way, maybe this way?"

I pointed in the right way with my right hand and said "Actually, it's that way." In my left hand was my phone with its compass app open.

Ruby pouted when she saw the circle with numbers and letters around it on my screen and asked "If you have that app then why'd you ask me?"

Chuckling as I walked past her, I gave into the temptation of ruffling her hair and said "You're going to have to know how to figure out which cardinal direction is which at least once in your Hunter Career while out in the field Ruby, and you might not have a compass when it happens."

"I'll just ask to borrow yours then." Ruby said, turning and quickly striding to walk beside me.

"And if my phone battery's dead?" I asked with an amused eyebrow raise.

"Theeeen I'll look to see what direction moss is growing on a tree." Ruby said.

"Like hell you well, moss doesn't grow in the direction of North Ruby, it grows on the sides of the tree that doesn't get too much sunlight." I said with a frown.

"Oh." Ruby said dejected, looking down as she quietly said "I don't know then."

I sighed and said "You skipped Signal's Survival Courses when you came here two years early, didn't you?"

"Most of them. We've been taken out camping but the ones where you are really roughing it don't take place until the last year." Ruby said with a nod.

"We'll have to look into filling in that gap this year then." I said before I continued "Now, if you are lost in the wilderness without a compass, your best bet is to wait until nighttime and get a good look at the overhead stars. When you don't have time to wait for night you can make a rough shod compass through a few different ways..."

I trailed off when I heard a growling sound. A moment later, a Beowulf came out of a set of bushes, the rest of its pack of twelve soon doing the same all around us. Giving a sigh as I pulled out my Type Ones, I said "Right, I forgot about these guys."

Ruby unfolded Crescent Rose and said "Well, at least this shouldn't be too hard. Even if Beowulfs are fast, it's not like they're bulky like Ursas are."

"True enough." I said, activating the plasma blades on my weapons and said "I'll take left, you take right?"

"Sounds good to me." Ruby said with a grin before she leapt at the Beowulf in front of her. I followed her lead, pushing aura through my legs to shoot forward at the first of my own enemies. The Grimm barely had time for its eyes to widen before two prongs of plasma erupted out of its back. Pulling my right blade out of the disintegrating body, I spun to my left to avoid the Grimm on my right that was swiping at me. When it swiped again, my left blade came up and sliced off the arm. The Beowulf's howl of pain was quickly cut off when I decapitated it with my right blade. Two down, four to go.

Spinning around to deal with the Beowulfs near my back, I ducked low under its swing, and falling back onto half-forgotten karate lessons from my teenage years swept my right leg out knocking the Beowulf's own feet out from under it. A quick stab of one of the prongs on my left blade through the eye took it out of the fight. Its buddy tried to pounce on my while I was on the ground but I rolled out of the way and into a crouch, springing forward a moment later with an upwards slash of my right blade left me with two Beowulf bodies where one used to be.

The last one behind me made the mistake of leaping up into the air to cover the distance between us, its shadow giving it away. I dove forward into a roll, coming up next to the last one before me with left blade punched into the 'poor' creature's gut. Pulling out the blade at the same time the Beowulf stumbled back with a hand over the wound, I spun around and sliced the other Grimm's head off with my left blade before spinning again and stabbed the prongs of my right blade into both eyes.

Sighing as I turned off my blades, I glanced to the side to see Ruby already done with her opponents, of course. The girl was studying me and said "You fought like your mind knew the movements but your body didn't."

I shrugged and said "I DID only download the knowledge of how to use paired Type One swords two days ago."

"Download?" Ruby asked with a cocked head.

I smirked and said "I went into my robot form and accessed Vale's information network and downloaded what I would need for coming here, including my new sword fighting style for when I don't use vibrational blades, though I _did_ receive a few years of hand to hand training when I was a real teenager."

"You can _download_ everything you need to learn, that is so **unfair**!" Ruby said with a massive pout on her face.

"To be fair, it gave me a raging headache when I finished assembling everything when my body turned back to normal." I said with a shrug.

"Still not fair." Ruby said with a sigh as she walked over to stand by me again.

I chuckled and patted her shoulder before I said "Come on, as fun as that was, we need to get going again."

Ruby nodded and as we began walking again asked "So, what were you saying about making a compass?"

Time Skip: Thirty Minutes Later

Coming up to the top of a hill in the woods, Ruby and I looked down at a small set of ruins and I said "Well, looks like the search part of our search and retrieve is over."

"Looks like it." Ruby said in agreement and the pair of us made our way down the hill. Once on the stone, Ruby looked around at all of the chess pieces and asked "Which one should we take?"

I glanced around and said "Yang was the first of Teams RWBY and JNPR to take a relic in the show, choosing a white Knight while Nora grabbed a white Rook. I'm seeing both sets though meaning there's a pretty good chance that we're the first of those groups to reach here so...whichever one you want I guess."

"Right, well in that case I'll go with the Knight then." Ruby said, picking up one of the white horse headed objects. Putting the relic in my camel pack when I offered, Ruby looked around and said "So I guess we should just start heading back to the cliff now."

"Let's give it ten minutes. In the show RWBY and JNPR met up here and had to deal with a Nevermore and a Deathstalker together. I'm pretty sure I already dealt with the first but we might want to help the others if the last comes into play." I said, looking around for the others.

Ruby shrugged and said "I don't mind waiting I guess."

It was a couple of minutes later when an Ursa stumbled out of the woods before an explosion knocked it out cold. I raised a single eyebrow while Ruby stared as Nora rolled off of its back and said "Ahh, its broken!"

As she zipped back up on the back, she looked it over and said "Eeeew."

As she did that, Ren appeared from behind the Ursa's body, putting one hand on his knee and the other on a bone growth as he panted and said "Nora, _please_, don't ever do that again." He glanced at his friend only to see no girl, a flashing outline of pink lines where she had been.

That was because she was suddenly by the pedestal holding one of the rooks in the ruins. Snatching the rook, she put it on top of her head and with stars and pictures of a hammer in a black circle as her background started singing "I'm queen of the castle, I'm queen of the castle!"

"Nora!" Ren called cutting her off and the girl saluted as she said "Coming Ren!"

"Well, that's two for the other team I guess." Ruby said as she watched Nora skip back towards her partner. A moment later, Ruby brightened and said "That means it's a fifty fifty shot of Yang being on our team!"

"IF she becomes a member of one of our two teams. She or her partner could always choose another chess piece." I said cautionary.

Ruby's shoulders slumped as she asked "Why do you have to dash my hopes like that?"

"Think of it instead as acknowledging all of the facts so that you're not blindsided." I said with a smirk.

Ruby shot me an accusing look and said "You're enjoying telling me 'all of the facts' aren't you?"

My smirk turned into a teasing smile and I said "_Maybe_."

Ruby sighed again only to perk up as more figures came out of the woods, seeing her sister, she eagerly waved and said "Hey Yang, over here!"

"Ruby!" Yang waved just as happily, increasing her pace, her partner doing the same, if only to keep up.

I cocked my head at the sight of Weiss being Yang's Partner and not Blake and said quietly to myself "Well now, _that_ I wasn't expecting. Still, better her than Blake I guess."

Ruby too was glancing between her sister and her _supposed_ partner, a quick flash of emotions going through her eyes before she literally shrugged whatever thoughts she was having away and said "Glad you could join us."

"Glad to be here little sister." Yang said, hugging her sister close. Weiss meanwhile let out a hum at the sight of the chess pieces before she selected the second white Rook for her and her partner. I smirked at her choice but didn't say anything about it.

As Weiss walked over to our group, she said "Well, since we now have our relic, we should begin making our way back to the cliff."

"Uh, which one did you grab?" Ruby asked nervously.

Weiss raised her eyebrow and said "I chose one of the Rooks, why?"

"Awwwww." Ruby said, somehow literally turning into some kind of goo falling into a depressed puddle on the floor.

"Um, is she alright?" Weiss asked uncertainly.

"We got one of the knights and she was hoping her sister would be on her team." I explained.

"Ah, I see." Weiss said with a nod of understanding.

Anything more that would be said was cut off as there was a series of loud crashes from the forest. As everyone turned towards the sound we saw Pyrrha and Blake quickly running out of the trees towards us. A moment later the Deathstalker also made an appearance and I said quietly "There we go, right on time."

Weiss gave me a questioning look for a moment before she shook her head and said to all of us "My tutor said that the best way to kill a Deathstalker was to somehow pierce its head with its own stinger, and that the stinger can be removed from the rest of the tail with a sharp enough blade. I shall immobilize the creature, if one of you can separate the stinger than Yang should be able to kill it."

I shrugged and said "Well, we COULD do that, or I could shoot it with one of my missiles."

"Missiles?" all of the others, sans the still running towards us Blake and Pyrrha asked, most incredulously, but Nora was noticeably more excited at the word.

I nodded and said "I've been meaning to try out my other form in combat anyway."

Before the others could ask, Ruby said "Tac, you used _that_ already this morning, let's save the rest of it for a last resort alright? Even with how you've been drinking from your camel pack the whole way here, it's pretty darn Aura intensive."

"Fair enough." I said with a shrug.

Ruby nodded before her eyes firmed and she barked out loud enough for the approaching partners to hear "PARTNERS, SCATTER AND SURROUND! HEAVY HITTERS IN FRONT, SUPPORT AT LEAST FIVE FEET BEHIND, YANG AND NORA, DEAL WITH THE PINCERS, PYRRHA AND TAC, DEAL WITH THE LEGS AND THE TAIL, GO!"

"Right!" We all shouted and Pyrrha and Blake dove to the right, allowing the Deathstalker to barrel past them. Before it could correct to continue pursuing them Nora was there slamming her hammer down onto the right pincer, Yang but a moment behind her punching the left pincer. Ruby quickly brought me to the left side of the giant scorpion in a blur of red and green rose petals and I immediately drew my Type Ones, turning on their plasma blades.

The Type Ones took out a leg each only for the plasma blades to cut out, the charges drained due to Ruby and I having encountered more than just the first pack of Beowulfs on the way here. The metal version of the blades were perfectly capable of taking up the slack though.

Needless to say, the Deathstalker did not appreciate Pyrrha and me chopping at its legs. Along with the screech of pain, it tried to launch its tail to the side at me. Tried being the operative word here as Weiss managed to freeze the tail solid, purposefully stopping a foot from the stinger, the chunk of ice connected to the Heiress by an ice trail that went from the ground up the Deathstalker's foremost left leg. With the tail temporarily taken out of play, Pyrrha and I sliced the rest of the legs off while Ruby and Blake both leapt up onto the body and sliced at the exposed skin just above the stinger with their respective weapons.

The Deathstalker let out another loud screech of pain as the Stinger fell off and Ruby shouted "Yang, Nora!"

The pair stopped hitting the pincers, the front limbs no longer a threat to their partners now that the Deathstalker no longer had legs, and clambered up top. Yang grabbed the stinger and with a yell of exertion slammed it point down into the Deathstalker's skull, going a good two feet in. Right after, Nora let out a gleeful shout as she fired a grenade on the other side of the stinger to shoot her up into the sky, spinning on the way downwards before smashing the stinger the rest of the way into the ground, causing the now THOROUGHLY dead Grimm to begin spewing the customary black smoke.

As the Deathstalker disintegrated, the four Partner pairs all gathered in front of where the head had been. Yang had a grin on her face as she said "Well that was easy, nice plan sis." She gave Ruby a high five with her right hand even as she bumped her left fist with Nora's right.

"Indeed, an efficient take down of a difficult enemy." Weiss said with a nod, the Schnee heiress idly eyeing the level of Ice Dust remaining in the chamber of her weapon.

Ruby had a pleased smile on her face and said "Thanks you two."

Deciding to move things along, I clapped my hands to gather the others' attention and said "Ladies and Ren." I paused as the girls giggled for a moment before I continued "I do not know about you all but I am _quite_ ready to make my way back to the cliff. What say we let Pyrrha and Blake grab their relic then take the express route back?"

"That sounds like an excellent idea, but express?" Weiss asked.

I smirked and said "You'll see." And with that I took off my camel pack, zipping open the section that held the water pouch inside. I unscrewed the cap and began taking deep pulls of the liquid remaining inside, chugging like a professional.

The others stared and Nora said "Wow, he's really thirsty, bet he's going to have a really big pee later though."

"Nora." Ren said plaintively.

"I don't think so." Ruby said with a small smile before she turned to Pyrrha and Blake, jerking her thumb at the ruins and said "One of you better go hurry and grab your relic."

"Alright." Pyrrha said, slightly unsure but quickly going to do as told. She came back a moment later with the second White Knight. Ruby gave her a small smile at the sight of that before she turned back to me and said "So Tac, think you have enough time to get us to back to the cliff?"

I nodded and said "After drinking that much water then I should." A moment later, a green line of light appeared on my feet, shooting up to, then _past_ the top of my head and up into the air. As the light shot up it left green metal with black Celtic markings behind and everyone but Ruby took several surprised steps back as their heads lifted up, following the light's path while their jaws steadily _dropped_.

When the transformation was complete, Weiss said to herself "I don't believe it, I thought Beacon had simply added mechs to the challenge along with the Grimm already present in the forest."

"Nope, Tac has turning into a badass robot as his Semblance, isn't it great!" Ruby asked with a grin.

"Hell yeah it is!" Nora cheered.

"So that is why he uses War Hawk as his call sign." Pyrrha said, still looking stunned.

I chuckled with a grin before I shifted forms. When a YF-12 was resting on it wheels in front of the others, Nora shouted "And he can transform into a jet as well! THAT IS SO COOL!"

Ruby chuckled and said "Yeah that was pretty much my reaction the first time he did that as well."

"How is this possible? No semblance I've ever heard of came even _remotely_ close to this." Weiss asked with a strained voice.

"I'll be quite happy to explain that to you later Weiss, but we're on a bit of a time limit right now. Ruby, Weiss, hop into the cockpit, the rest of you get on my back." I said, my cockpit hatch popping open as I spoke.

Ruby was quick to do so, Weiss following a moment later. The rest of the girls and Ren quickly hopped up onto my back as well and as I lowered my cockpit hatch and began spinning up my turbines I said "Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome to Autobot Airlines, we ask that for your safety you remain seated for the duration of the flight."

My turbines began to softly whine as they spun up to quarter speed, I didn't need to go Mach 3.3 or even Mach 1 after all. A moment later I lifted straight up to just above tree height, turning to point my nose in the direction of the cliff before I smoothly accelerated to a for me ridiculously slow fifty miles per hour, pulling upwards as I did so, Nora of course laughing her head off as we went while demanding I do a loop de loop.

Needless to say, I ignored that 'request'. Instead, I gave Weiss some of my attention as she asked "How fast can this form of yours go? And for that matter, how long can you hold it? You did say that we were on a time limit."

"Mach 3.3, and I can hold my giant form for five minutes if I have full Aura, longer if I drink water first. My smaller form I can hold for thirty minutes at full Aura."

"Of course you would have a smaller form as well, it's not as if this beggars belief enough already." Weiss said to herself.

Ruby giggled at that but nothing else was said. Within five minutes the cliff came back into view and I came in at just the right height that there was only a small bump when I dipped a foot to put my wheels down on the top, rolling around to face Ozpin who was calmly watching us even as he took a sip of his coffee. Once the others were off, the green light appeared again, this time at both my nose and my tail, moving inwards. When it met in the middle I appeared back in human form a couple of feet in the air and landed in a crouch. Standing back up, I said "Nice of you to wait for us Ozzy."

"_Tac_, show the headmaster some proper respect!" Weiss said, quite scandalized going by the slightly wide eyes and flushed face.

"It is quite alright Miss Schnee, I find I rather like Mr. Arc's nickname for me." Ozpin said, taking another sip from his coffee before he gestured with his cane and said "For now though, why don't we bring this to the auditorium so that way we can finish the Initiation."

"Yes sir." We all said and followed him as he began walking.

Scene Change: The Auditorium, Thirty Minutes Later

Ozpin stood on the stage, four boys who just oozed 'Jock' standing in a row in front of him while on a large screen their profile pictures drifted to form a line and he said "Russel Thrush. Cardin Winchester. Dove Bronzewing. Sky Lark. The Four of you retrieved the Black Bishop pieces. From this day forward, you will work together as Team CRDL (Cardinal), led by...Cardin Winchester!"

The crowd applauded as Cardin gave Ozpin a nod before the four left the stage. Weiss led Yang, Nora, and Ren onto the stage, their profile pictures appearing on the corners of the above head screen and beginning to drift to the middle as Ozpin said "Weiss Schnee. Yang Xiao Long. Nora Valkyrie. Lie Ren. The four of you retrieved the White Rook pieces. From this day forward, you will work together as Team NRWY (Norway), led by...Weiss Schnee."

I gave a single twitch at the team name as the crowd applauded and Weiss gave Ozpin a bow of her head and said "I shall do my best to lead this team in a manner befitting this proud institution of learning Headmaster."

"I'm sure you will Miss Schnee." Ozpin said with a smile.

Weiss led her new team off the stage and then it was my turn, following Ruby as she led me, Pyrrha, and Blake on the stage. As our profiles began making the journey to the middle of the screen Ozpin said "Ruby Rose. Tac Arc. Pyrrha Nikos. Blake Belladonna. The four of you retrieved the White Knight pieces. From this day forward, you will work together as Team ABRN (Auburn). Led by...Ruby Rose."

To my immense amusement Ruby looked like she got slapped with a fish. I guess hearing that you were named a team leader in an act of fiction was different to hearing that you were made team leader in real life. I nudged her shoulder with my arm and smirked down at her when she looked up at me and said "Congratulations Partner."

"Thanks." Ruby said, still with the shocked look on her face.

Ozpin meanwhile smirked and said "It looks like things are shaping up to be an...interesting year."

END

Author's Note:

I literally have no idea where all of that Silver Eyed Warrior talk snuck in from. Weiss appearing was the catalyst of that talk but even THAT was just pure random 'flow writing'...

Also originally, it was just going to be me and Weiss switching who got Pyrrha/Ruby as our partners. But then I thought part way through writing this that it would be interesting if the teams were even further scrambled. (Blake as Weiss' partner was such a delicious thought of all of the drama I could create!) So out comes the dice app on my phone. First roll was to see if I kept the original or went for something else. (Five dices, majority wins, 1-3 remain on course 4-6 new path) Got a four to one roll for the latter. Then I rolled for Weiss' partner, either Pyrrha, Blake or Yang (1-2 Pyrrha, 3-4 Blake, 5-6 Yang, single dice this time) Got a six. For teams, I rolled for which group would be with me and Ruby, 1-2 being Nora/Ren, 3-4 Weiss/Yang and 5-6 Pyrrha/Blake. Got a 5. Amazing what you get when you leave everything to chance ain't it?

One final thing, I have a Pat reon up and running if any of you feel like my work is worth supporting. Just look for my penname.


	3. Chapter 3

3\. First Team Meeting Of ABRN And NRWY

As we left the auditorium after the team naming ceremony, I tapped Ruby's shoulder and said "Hey, I just realized that I never got your Scroll number."

"Huh, oh right, we should all probably switch numbers now that we're on a team." Ruby said and we quickly swapped numbers before doing the same with Pyrrha and Blake. Team NRWY quickly did the same beside us when they saw what was happening and I managed to convince the two teams to continue trading numbers for 'just in case.' That got me a look from Weiss but she gave her number easily enough, as did the rest of team NRWY.

As soon as I was finished looking around ABRN's dorm room, HOPEFULLY for the full four years, I sent a text to Ozpin asking if there was a windowless room I could use for a briefing of the two teams. Five minutes later my phone pinged with a text that was simply a map leading from ABRN's dorm to a room in the tower his Office was over labeled SCIF along with a code that I assumed was to open the door of said room. Surprised but grateful for Ozpin allowing access to Beacon's high security room, I sent a quick group text to the others to meet me at the base of the tower in fifteen minutes.

Ruby, Pyrrha, and Blake all took out their scrolls as they gave various text message tones. They looked at me in confusion at the text before Ruby showed understanding and said "I guess we should get going then."

"Really? He sends some mysterious text about a meeting on our second day here at the center of the academy when we could simply have the meeting in one of our dorm rooms and you're fine with it?" Blake asked with a cocked head.

"I trust he has a reason for us going there." Ruby said, following me out of the dorm room.

I'm pretty sure the other partner half of our team traded looks but I heard them following. We actually met NRWY on the way and Weiss frowned severely as she asked "Tac, what is the meaning of having us go so far for a meeting between our two teams?"

"You'll see when we get there." I said, leading the way.

"That is not a satisfactory answer at all." Weiss huffed though I ignored her.

We gained some attention from the few students in the hallways and on campus as we made the trip but nobody stopped us. Reaching the bottom of the building, I checked the map again before I entered the stairs and walked up to the second floor. Walking over to a nondescript door with a keypad by the doorknob I typed in the code Ozpin gave me and the door unlocked and swung in on itself.

"Why do you have a security code for this door?" Weiss asked.

"Ozpin gave it to me." I said entering the room noticing that it looked like a conference room that could hold about twenty people comfortably, a large screen on the wall opposite the door and a control panel at the head of the table.

"Why would he give you that?" Weiss asked with a frown.

"Probably because he knows that what I'm going to tell you shouldn't be heard by curious eavesdroppers." I said, giving her a raised eyebrow look.

Weiss huffed and made her way to the chair on the right side of the panel seat, saying "Ugh, this had better be important." Yang took the next seat followed by Ren then Nora.

"Pretty sure it's really important." Ruby said, taking the seat opposite Weiss followed by Blake then Pyrrha.

I closed the door which automatically locked and moved to look at the panel at the head of the table. A moment of study later and I flicked the right switch and there was a soft but audible hum while the large screen turned on with the words SCIF ACTIVATED appearing.

"What's SCIF mean?" Nora asked with a cocked head.

"Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility. Basically a place where secrets can be told without others overhearing." I said before I shifted into War Hawk and linked up with the screen causing the words to be replaced by the Autobot insignia.

Putting my metal digits on the back of the chair I was in front of, I said "I think it goes without saying at this point that what we discuss in here does not leave this room. As such let me get straight to the point. Less than a week ago 'Tac Arc' was not in any system of any of the Kingdoms. That is because five days ago I was transported from my bedroom on my home planet Earth to Vale by a Random Omnipotent Being, R.O.B. for short, by the name of Taifun."

The Autobot symbol on the screen disappeared, replaced with a first person view of me working at my computer before realizing that I had a visitor. The little movie played through until I appeared on the rooftop overlooking Ruby's fight where it ended, fading back to the Autobot insignia. As I deleted any trace of the movie from the screen's system, I said "So now that you've seen _why_ I'm here, are there any questions before I get to explaining what I know about what's coming?"

Nora quickly raised her hand and asked "What did that Taifun guy mean by 'War Mage'?"

"I'm given four spell sigils, one on each palm of my hands and soles of feet. Highly versatile, there were ten classes, six levels, three spells per level. The classes are Wind, Water, Fire, Lightning, Earth, Light, Dark, Gravity, Space, and Staff, the spells for that last one are utility and healing spells." I explained.

"Sounds quite useful. So what does being able to change into a mechanical being grant you that made it a better option?" Weiss asked.

"Well, as you saw back in the forest I can now convert water into Aura making it relatively easy to replenish as needed, and I can also transform into any vehicle that I scan, but the real kicker is this." The compartment on my left forearm opened and I pulled out the Neo Forge and continued "This little miracle worker is called a Mini Forge. Based off of the Forge of Solus Prime, so long as it has the juice and I have a firm picture in my mind of what I want, it can create anything I desire out of raw materials."

"You mean you could turn a pile of sand into a pile of pancakes?!" Nora asked drooling.

I gave her my flattest look, which given my currently metallic face was pretty darn flat. Putting the Mini Forge away I said "I could, but I'm not."

"Awwww." Nora whined, slumping in her chair.

"I can certainly see the appeal of having such an item to use." Weiss said, leaning forward as she asked "Have you tried creating Dust with it yet? Having access to extra Dust stores out in the field would be quite the boon."

I shook my head and said "Not yet, I wanted to have you with me during the first try so that way we could make sure that what I'm making is actually equivalent to the natural stuff."

Weiss nodded and said "A wise decision on your part."

"Anything else or should I continue with the briefing?" I asked.

The others traded looks then Ruby said "I think we're good Tac."

"Right then. In that case, I'm going to start off with things relating to members of these teams then move onto enemies, combat applications first, then everything else. For starters, Ruby I already told you about your eyes and my plan for helping you activate them last night. On the more mundane side, you need to work on your unarmed combat. In the source material, you got separated from Crescent Rose at least once so you need to be able to last long enough to get back to it if such a thing happens here."

Turning to Blake, I said "Blake, You, Ruby, and I need to look into enhancing Gambol Shroud, it's durability at the very least. In the show the sword portion got sliced in half so we need to look into stronger materials for it."

Blake nodded and I shifted my gaze to Pyrrha and said "Pyrrha, get yourself some metallic sand. I know you like to be low key with your Semblance but I can't stress enough how much blocking or outright stripping a person of their sight in a fight could help. Also, see if you can use your Semblance to run Kinetic motors and if so consider putting small ones on your shield and weapon for electrical charges. I can probably make you really small ones if you want me to."

Pyrrha gave a slight frown of consideration and nodded. Turning to Nora next, I said "Speaking of things that make electricity, Nora, Piezo Crystals, find some, then have Ruby or me integrate them in Magnhild's head, and wire them to the grip."

"Oooookay? But what exactly are Piezo Crystals?" Nora asked in confusion.

"Piezo, short for piezoelectricity is the electric charge that accumulates in certain solid materials in response to applied mechanical stress. A common example is quartz." Weiss stated factually.

I pointed at her before I turned back to Nora and said "Basically, the harder you smash things, the more charge you get, the more souped up you are, the harder you can hit things. In short, you start hitting things, and your strength will only grow during the entire fight."

Nora gasped and said "_That's GENIUS_!"

"That's terrifying." Ren countered with a slightly scared look in his eyes, probably having a day terror about an unstoppable Nora playing wackamole with anything that moved.

"And it has the benefit of being an inbuilt security system. Someone else grabs your weapon and the first time they swing, ZAP!" Ruby said with an eager grin before she perked up even more and said "Oooh! What if we added a storage option, a battery that you can charge up for when you _really_ need a boost in a hurry?"

"I LIKE HOW YOU THINK SISTER!" Nora said with a megawatt grin.

Ren put his head in his hands and said "Congratulations Tac, you've made a monster."

"Won't be the last time, I promise." I said with a cackle.

Ren looked at me through his fingers and asked "Do I want to know?"

I hooked a thumb at Ruby and said "I'm thinking about making her a scythe that has a plasma blade rather than metal at some point."

Ruby's eyes lit up as she said "Ohmygosh, that would be so COOL!"

"No, that's terrifying." Yang countered, sounding very much like her teammate had just a few moments ago.

I let out a cackle at that before I said "Moving on, Weiss and Ren, you two have the same problem, which is compounded by the fact you're on the same team: Endurance. You two have excellent Aura Control but we'll be getting into several drawn out and intense fights down the road. You two need to be able to last from start to end or you'll become a liability to your partners. I suggest figuring out a time where you can start running, maybe add parkour or an obstacle course a week or two in as well."

The pair traded a glance with each other before looking back at me and Weiss nodded as she said "I shall make the pair of us a schedule once I've seen what the workload from the classes are like."

I nodded at that before I turned to Yang and said "That just leaves you Yang." Shaking my head, I said "I'm not going to lie here Yang, when it comes to upcoming fights you're going to be having a rather rough time of it."

"Okay?" Yang asked with a slightly worried look. A moment later, she firmed her resolve and said "Alright, hit me."

"Alright, for starters, learn how to deal with kick and counter based styles better. Roman Torchwick's partner is a four foot ten slip of a girl and she absolutely wrecked you with her combat style of using a strengthened umbrella and kicks to counter you."

The Autobot insignia on the screen changed again and thanks to my currently cybernetic brain the two teams watched the Yang Vs Neo fight on the train EXACTLY as it happened. Yang, Ruby, and Nora winced when Yang hit the train car ceiling and Weiss and Pyrrha had slight frowns.

When the video ended, Yang said "Alright, I can see where you're coming from. I probably shouldn't count on some stranger that uses portals to come rescue me, whoever she was."

"Indeed." I said, thanking the fact that I was currently in bot mode to help hide my emotions somewhat. "You're final opponent in the Vytal Festival used leg prosthetics in his fight and I don't think I need to remind you about your fight with those twins in Junior's Bar, see a pattern?"

Yang bashfully rubbed the back of her head and asked "You uh, know about that?"

I gave her a _look_ then played the fight in the first volume's Yellow trailer. By the end of it Yang was sunk into the chair with a blush, the others looking at her with their own flat looks, Weiss' particularly disapproving.

Shaking my head, I said "Like I said, 'pattern'. Also, in the Vytal Festival, you used your Semblance to win every fight after the qualifiers so we need to figure out a way for you not to rely on it so much."

Straightening up with narrowed eyes, Yang asked "So? How's me using my Semblance to win a fight any different than when others use theirs?"

I smirked and said "I'm so glad you asked that question. Allow me to show you. Also, I'll explain the prosthetic later."

"_Prosthetic_?!" Yang and Ruby asked with wide eyes, a look the others mimicked before they looked at the screen again as the Yang VS Taiyang Sparring Match began playing.

When the clip ended, I said "I hope you learn the lesson your father gave you in the show before you wind up needing that new arm Yang, though it did come in handy during the rematch with the guy who did that to you."

"Who did it Matt?" Ruby asked, honest to Brothers _rage_ in her eyes.

I glanced at her before I turned my gaze to Blake and said "In the show, Blake and Yang were partners. Blake had a partner before Beacon, one who felt she betrayed him. During the Vytal Festival he was attacking her and Yang did a head on charge trying to get him away from her. He used his Semblance to cut through her aura like it wasn't even there."

Blake's eyes were wide and fearful. Ruby's eyes flicked towards her before turning back onto me as she asked "_Who_ Matt?"

I paused for a moment before I said "His name's Adam, and he _used_ to be a decent person. However, he's become a monster and is now a leading figure in the extremist faction of the White Fang."

"Is there any other kind of White Fang?" Weiss asked, crossing her arms with a scowl as she glared at me.

Blake twitched, barely withholding a full out wince and I stared Weiss down and said "Weiss, it would pay to remember that the White Fang started out as a _peaceful_ protest group. Not everyone in it wants to use violence to force about equality and/or fear of Faunus. Some still believe they can achieve equality through nonviolent ways. Please keep that in mind."

Weiss kept scowling at me for a moment before nodding. Yang meanwhile took a deep breath and visibly shifted tracks as she asked "Dad mentioned Mom in that clip you showed. Do you know anything about her?"

I nodded and said "Raven Branwren, I know the basics, though I don't think it's anything you'll like to hear."

"Like to hear or not, I need to know Tac." Yang said.

I studied her for a moment before I gave a sigh and said "Raven and Qrow Branwren grew up in a bandit tribe. They were sent to Beacon academy to learn how to handle any Hunter opposition that the tribe would run into. They were half of Team STRQ, the other half composed of Ruby's mother Summer Rose and the father of the two of you Tai Xiao Long, who you obviously share the last name of. Obviously your Uncle has remained around but for reasons that I do not know she returned to the bandit tribe and is now its leader, believing that only the strong should survive."

"I, I see." Yang said, looking down and closing her eyes as she continued "I guess she never really cared about us after all."

"That or she felt that those feelings of caring were a weakness. However, there is one more thing Yang. That 'stranger' that saved you in the train? That was her."

"But she didn't stick around." Yang said with a frown as she looked down at the table. Ruby managed to let go the last of her anger at that, getting up from her seat and walking around the table to pull her into a hug, one Yang returned after a moment.

Deciding to give them a moment, I glanced at Weiss and said "Speaking of parental figures, Weiss, you need to try and maintain contact with your father. Speak with him at least once a week. In the show, he cut you off during the Vytal Festival because you didn't. I can agree that he won't ever win father of the year award but that doesn't mean we should make him an enemy."

Weiss' eyes narrowed a fraction and she said "I shall consider your words."

I nodded and as Ruby returned to her seat glanced at Blake as I said "That goes for you as well Blake, get in touch with your parents at some point. In the show you went there after Beacon fell. Obviously I want to prevent that from happening here but the fact remains that they are your parents and I bet they miss you terribly." Blake gave a small nod. Finishing off, I sent a text message to her scroll that said '_One last thing. Weiss WILL find out what's under that ribbon, it would be better if she does so on your terms._' Blake pulled out her scroll and frowned a little at the message there before she looked up at me with a nod.

I glanced at the others trying to think of if they had anything I needed to tell them when it came to personal matters. Deciding that I didn't, I clapped my hands and said "Alright, let's move onto main enemies you all will encounter. We'll start first with Roman Torchwick."

An image of the man taken from my memories of the night of my arrival appeared on the screen and I said "Guy's a male human standing at six foot three and in the show he was the main baddie of volume one, and continued to be a pain in the ass until he was killed by a Grimm when he was distracted taunting Ruby during a massive Grimm attack. He's right handed, and his cane is his weapon. Called Melodic Cudgel, it fires explosive flares. No clue about his Semblance, he never showed any overt signs of knowing it himself."

The image shrunk and moved to the top left corner of the screen, replaced with a full body shot of Neo from the Yang vs Neo video and I continued "You've already seen what Neo here is capable of. You need to know her Semblance though. Called Overactive Imagination, it's a goddamned nightmare to go against. Basically, she's able to create physical illusions that can be seen by everyone, which shatter like glass when broken. They are highly realistic and she uses them in her role as an infiltration specialist, altering her appearance to avoid detection, and they're not limited to just disguising herself either. I saw a video clip once where she used her Semblance to change the appearance of an entire Bullhead. But while these two are certainly your enemies, they're not the head honcho."

Neo's picture shrunk and joined Roman's at the top, replaced by a picture of Salem. Gesturing at the picture, I said "This is Salem. She is a five feet six inches* tall shell of literal evil. And no, that's not an exaggeration, part of her origin story is her diving into a Grimm Spawning pool which corrupted her. Due to that, she has become the Master of the Grimm."

"And the rest?" Ruby asked, looking creeped out, the others having similar expressions on their faces.

I huffed and said "Basically, she's an immortal Witch in a millennia long grudge match with a constantly reincarnating Wizard that she was once married to and the successors of their four daughters who were the original Maidens of Seasons, their powers transferred to the last female they thought about before they died."

"Wait, grudge match...'reincarnating Wizard'...Headmaster Ozpin was her husband thousands of years ago?!" Ruby asked with wide eyes.

"Pardon? Where do you possibly get THAT idea?!" Weiss asked, looking at Ruby incredulously.

Ruby looked at me and asked "Uh Tac, do you mind..."

She gestured at the screen and I nodded as a certain interrogation room appeared on the screen and the others heard _"I know what you are Ozzy Osbourne, and that when your current body dies you'll share headspace with a farm boy named Oscar Pine."_

The screen turned back to the Autobot Insignia and Ruby said "Ozpin also showed more interest about Salem's inner circle than anything else Tac had talked about before."

"Oh, so he's really-" Weiss started uncertainly.

"Literally older than the four kingdoms? Yes." I finished with a smirk before I grew serious and continued "Anyways, let's continue. I don't know as much as I would like, but I do know that Salem's inner circle has a Scorpion Faunus named Tyrian who's pretty much leapt off of the sanity cliff with no parachute. Don't let that fool you though, he's incredibly dangerous in a fight. Also under her wings are Hazel Rainart and Arthur Watts." Tyrian's picture appeared beside Salem's and two silhouette shots with question marks joined them.

"Wait, _Arthur Watts_?! Are you sure about that?" Weiss asked, an alarmed look on her face.

"Pretty sure, why, do you know him?" I asked, the others all looking at her as well.

"He was a high ranking scientist in Atlas, specializing in computer engineering, mechanical engineering, anatomical engineering, and cyber security." Weiss stated.

"_Was_?" Blake asked, eyes narrowing.

Weiss let out a slight cough and said "Well, he has been labeled as dead for quite some time."

"At the risk of sounding incredibly cliché by paraphrasing this, 'Rumors of his demise have been greatly exaggerated.' From what I got out of a time loop fic of the series, he's responsible for a very devastating virus that one of Salem's other goons puts in the CCTC tower during a dance Beacon held. I'm hoping that I'll be able to at the very least isolate the virus so that way it's no longer usable and at best use it to give HIM problems." I said with crossed arms.

The others mulled on that for a moment before Blake asked "What about this Hazel Rainart character?"

I shrugged and said "I've got jack all on him unfortunately. I unfortunately stopped reading the time loop fic for a while a few years ago and I didn't actually watch a lot of the actual episodes of the show so I don't really know. I plan to do a search for him on Remnant's version of the internet within this week to find out though."

Shaking my head from that, I continued "But the minion of Salem that I DO know about are Cinder Fall and _her_ minions Emerald Sustrai and Mercury Black." The four pictures in the center shrunk and moved to the top, replaced by the pictures of the three baddies.

Cinder's picture grew a little and the other two shrunk as I said "Cinder Fall is as deadly as she is beautiful. She's Five feet and eleven inches of femme fatale and she knows it. Even her dress is dangerous, given that it has Dust sewn into it. Her Semblance is called Scorching Caress. It gives her a bit of pyrokinesis as well as making molten glass weapons. She likes to make two swords which she can then combine into a bow, which she can fire up to three arrows from with superb accuracy. Also, she's not afraid to block high impact rounds with just her aura." I looked around the room with serious eyes and said "If any of you come across her one on one, my advice is to avoid direct confrontation until you get backup of at LEAST team strength, and even then to exercise extreme caution. In the show, this woman took Ozpin on head to head and came out on top. I can literally NOT stress how dangerous this woman is. I got the jump on her a few nights ago but I do not expect my Sonic Disrupter to work on her nearly as well a second time."

The others nodded and Yang said "Right, see a black haired chick throwing around fire balls stay the hell away."

I nodded and Cinder's picture shrunk with Emerald's growing and I said "Emerald Sustrai is as big a pain in the ass to go against as Neo. Height's five foot eight, weapons are called Thief's Respite, a pair of revolver sickles, more specifically Kusarigama with the chain ends connected to the handles. But while she has all of the ranges covered with her weapons, it's her Semblance that's the real problem. It's called Hallucinations, and as you can guess by the name, it allows her to modify the sensory information in a person's head while their brain is processing it."

"So in other words, instead of generating an illusion that everyone nearby can see like Neo, she affects the target's mind directly." Weiss said.

I nodded and said "Exactly. In fact, in the Vytal Festival one on one rounds, she made Yang think that her partner was attacking her after the match was already decided causing her to shoot him in the leg."

"What?!" Yang asked, eyes turning red. Ruby also clenched her fists, a rather harsh look in her eyes as she let out a low growl.

"Easy you two, Ozpin has already been told of that happening in the show, and now that you yourself know about it Yang, you can avoid falling for the trick here." I said, reaching over to put a hand on Ruby's shoulder in an attempt to help her calm down.

"I don't suppose I could break this bitch's legs when we run into her?" Nora asked.

"Tempting, but no. She might just make it so that you actually broke someone else's legs instead. Leave her to me, I plan on getting her with a micro tracking chip, delivered by a drone 'bug' bite, that way I know where she is at all times. In fact, I plan on doing that with all of our enemies if I get the chance."

Weiss nodded in approval and said "Smart, that way even if they escape us we have a way of tracking them."

I gave her a nod as Emerald's Picture shrunk and Mercury's grew as I said "Cinder's other minion is Mercury Black. He stands at five foot ten inches. His weapons are a bit unique even for Hunters and Huntresses. They're called Talaria and they are a large pair of boots with firing mechanisms built into them, similar to Yang's Ember Celica. However, Talaria are only half of his weapon arsenal. The other half are his prosthetic legs which are capable of shooting air blasts. Best way to limit his ability to contribute to a fight would be either Pyrrha ripping them out with her polarity or Weiss trapping his legs with really thick ice." I then grinned at Nora and said "Breaking his legs work as well."

Nora snickered while Ren sighed and said "Please don't encourage her Tac."

"Hang on, what about this guy's Semblance?" Blake asked.

"He doesn't have one." I said. At their looks, I shrugged and said "Or rather, his was stolen. When he unlocked it, his bastard of a father somehow used his own Semblance to steal Mercury's and claimed that he would get it back when he got stronger. However, Mercury never did get it back, partly because he wound up killing said father."

"And I thought that my father was a poor role model." Weiss said with a frown.

The rest of us didn't say anything to that, and I moved the three pictures to the top before one last picture appeared which had Blake clenching her fists under the table. Gesturing at the image, I said "This is Blake's former partner who has since gone to the dark side. Name's Adam Taurus, and by this point in time he's managed to work his way up to being the leader of the White Fang's Vale Branch. As you can see, he's a bull Faunus, Six feet four inches tall. For weapons, he has Wilt and Blush, a red sword, a chokuto I believe, and a scabbard that doubles as a rifle respectively. His Semblance is Moonslice and it works in a manner rather similar to Yang's. He stores any energy that comes into contact with Wilt and then releases it all at once. I'm pretty sure that he can hold onto the energy for as long as he wants though I doubt it's easy to do so while he's asleep if that's the case. Also, everything that's red on him glows when he absorbs the energy so if you see him glowing, stay the hell away from him. In the show, he used it to slice right through Yang's aura like it wasn't even there." Yang swallowed and gripped her right bicep tightly with her left hand. Ruby quickly got out of her chair and went back to Yang's side to offer her support again. I gave them another moment before I continued "However, Adam is far from unstoppable. Get his sword away from him and he's practically helpless. Also, he's got an incredibly bad case of tunnel vision syndrome. If the object of his fixation of the time can last against him long enough it's possible for others to be gathered to gang up on him. Also Ruby, I read a fanfic where you managed to go one on one against him and the end result was him cowering in a river bank for an hour with a bit of skin from the back of his neck on your scythe blade. Now, this story was after a time skip period and it WAS fanfiction, but given your experience with Yang's own Semblance, it's possible that given enough training you have a decent chance at taking him on. However, unless there are no other options do NOT try to test that." As I spoke, I sent said fic: The Big Bad Bull and The Little Red Reaper by Anthurak to her phone. Hey, it couldn't hurt right?

Ruby glanced at her scroll when it pinged showing she got the message but she glanced at Yang who squeezed her in a side hug, eyes red as she glared at the picture of Adam and said "I second that Ruby, unless there's no other choice I want you staying the hell away from this guy." Blake and even Weiss nodded in enthusiastic agreement and Ruby nodded her own agreement as she said "Right, stay away from the pissed off bull unless there are no other options."

"That goes for you three as well, I don't want you three anywhere near Adam in a fight. Given her track record, Pyrrha might have a good shot at holding him off but even her blocking his sword with her shield would help power up his Semblance so I don't want any of you taking any chances with him." I said, looking at Nora and Ren then at Pyrrha.

"What about you? I notice that you didn't say that you would avoid him." Ren asked with narrowed eyes.

I shrugged and said "That's because if I ever see him then I'm planning on finding a good sniper nest and taking him out from long range. The gun I make at the time to do so may or may not shoot lasers."

There was silence for a moment before Ren nodded and said "Fair enough."

"Well now, we have been told a lot of things that we must consider. Tac, is there anything else or are we finished here?" Weiss asked.

I shrugged and said "Only thing left was that I was going to advise you and Ruby to come up with call signs for us to use in the field. Never know if an enemy can get access to our comms after all. I've already got War Hawk for mine, WH for short."

"I'd like to stick with Spartan, SP for short." Pyrrha said right after.

Weiss let out a hum and said "Hm, that is a logical idea. I shall consider this and assign them in the morning."

Ruby nodded eagerly and said "I've got no problem with you two using those, means I just have to come up with ones for me and Blake."

"Just don't have any words that share first letters with your name, don't want to make matching them too easy for the enemy after all." I advised.

"Hm, good point." Ruby said before devolving into a muttering spree that would have made Izuku Midoriya proud.

Yang giggled and ruffled her sister's hair before she followed Weiss' lead as the Heiress stood up and said "Then, if that is all I believe we should head back to the dorms."

I nodded and cleared the screen, wiping out its memory as I did so before shifting back into my default human form and said "Yeah, that's everything."

Flicking the switch on the panel had the room unlocking and the others also stood before we filed out of the room. It wasn't until we had almost reached the dorms that I realized I had forgotten to tell Weiss about the White Fang's attempt to steal the Dust from the cargo ship just before the Vytal Festival. Oh well, a simple text once I had finished unpacking my minimal amount of resources should suffice. After that, it was mostly just looking forward to classes tomorrow to deal with. Oh wait, we had Professor Port first, maybe I should make myself a transcribing recorder so that way I could TRY to get anything useful out of his lecture without falling asleep to the sound of his voice...and if that didn't work, I'd just go in as War Hawk under hologram during each class and go on standby mode with my audio receptors set to record and download, that'd let me know what he was talking about even if he did manage to put me to sleep. But recorder transcriber first, going robot during second class if that didn't work. It was only polite to the other students that I try to learn in that class the normal way first after all...

END

Author's Notes: And we are done. This took a lot less time to do then Version one, even with the differences in how I did the first half of the meetings. Moving on, I'm tempted to go back to my One Piece stories but I believe that I will either do my Fire Emblem stories next or Hacker and Alicorn stories next. See ya guys.

*Made Salem a foot shorter then Ozpin due to lack of actual information found


End file.
